Awakening of Light
by Autumnstar17
Summary: When a series of new worlds become connected, keyblade wielders Blaise, Soul, and Emily set out on a mission to defend them from heartless and seal their keyholes. But when remnants from the Organization start to show up in their way, the three girls are forced down new paths that they may not be able to come back from.
1. Dawn's Peak

**Opening Theme:** Goodbye Happiness by Utada Hikari

 **..:: The World That Never Was ::..**

Bits and pieces of rubble crunched beneath three separate sets of boots. The nobodies stopped in a near straight line to stare up at the castle that was looming above them. Something about it was different. Not the darkness that seemed to engulf the entire structure - no, that was nothing new. It seemed… deserted. The place always had an air of hollowness about it, but this wasn't empty so much as abandoned. Left behind. Like a book that had been placed on a shelf and then forgotten about.

"Does this feel off to anyone else?" the first woman asked, her eyes shifting over towards her two companions. She had long, wavy brown hair herself and red-tinted eyes. Like the others was wearing a black coat.

The nearest to her shrugged. "Looks like home to me. Whatever that means."

"Hm."

The first of them continued onward towards the castle. Inside was much of the same. Unnecessarily high ceilings made the place feel even more empty and spacious than it already was.

"Xeymil. Look."

Xeymil turned her head towards her blue-haired companion. "What is it, Loxus?"

Loxus pointed out a wide glass wall towards the eternally night sky. There was something missing from it, however.

"Kingdom Hearts," Loxus explained. "It's gone."

So it was.

"Surely Xemnas won't be pleased," Xeymil muttered.

"I don't think we need to worry about _him_ anymore," the third voice chimed in. Xeymil and Loxus turned to see Basilex coming back into the room towards them. She had short, messy brown hair and two different colored eyes - one gold and one blue - that would probably have been considered pretty were it not half as off-putting. "Or anyone else for that matter," Basilex went on. "The castle is quiet."

As she walked forward she undid her black coat and let it fall from her shoulders and drop to the ground. Beneath it was a dominantly white outfit with black accents.

Xeymil frowned. "Xemnas might not be here right now, but the dress code still applies."

"Don't you get it? He's not here, and I seriously doubt he's coming back."

"You can't know that for sure."

Basilex wrinkled her nose. She was just a foot or so away from Xeymil and Loxus now. "Oh, drop the unwavering loyalty act. It's pathetic. 'Sides, while we were off doing his busywork, a little birdie told me that that kid with the magic key was on his way over here. My guess is he got lucky and the Organization was having an off day when he finally arrived."

Xeymil swallowed. "What are you implying?"

"As I said, we needn't worry about Xemnas or any of the higher ranks any more." The corner of Basilex's lips rose into a cunning smile. Xeymil turned away.

"What does that mean for us, supposing you're right?" Loxus asked. "If the Organization is no more…"

"The Organization isn't gone!" Xeymil hissed suddenly, whirling around again. As she did so her fist cut through the air, around it the fingerless red gloves that she called her Jazz Hands. From these gloves a thin trail of flames followed her swift movement and then died away again. "Perhaps it's just time for a change in management." Xeymil tried to regain her previous composure, straightening again and letting her gaze shift from Loxus to Basilex.

"Perfect," shrugged Basilex. "In that case, I'll happily take my place as the new Number One."

Xeymil narrowed her eyes. "That isn't what I meant."

"No? Because I hope you weren't about to suggest we put _you_ in charge."

"I'm not _suggesting_ ," glowered Xeymil, "I'm stating. Xemnas left me in charge of our last mission. By that same logic, out of the three of us, he would want me to follow in his footsteps."

Basilex let out a stream of laughter. "Oh, _please,_ " she sighed, her chuckling still fading away. "Xemnas only stuck you in a leadership position because of your willingness to play lap dog. He didn't care for or favor you any more than he did us. In case you've forgotten, our missions were primarily means of keeping us out of his hair and away from The World That Never Was as often as possible."

"He knew the keywielder was on his way here," Loxus chimed in. "Perhaps he was simply trying to keep us out of harm's way. We haven't existed all that long, after all."

Basilex snorted. "As if."

"What, have you been hanging out with Xigbar lately?"

Basilex glowered back at Xeymil.

"Look, it's no secret that you weren't fond of Xemnas," Xeymil's nostrils flared. "But if there's any chance that he and the others will show up again, _I_ for one am not going to just throw away everything he was working towards. Nor disgrace his memory by standing aside while you try and wrongfully make yourself his successor."

Smiling wickedly, Basilex jerked her head to the side, causing her neck to crack. "Guess we'll just have to settle this the old fashioned way." Her eyes seemed to widen with manic glee. For supposedly being an emotionless being, she was incredibly expressive.

Xeymil adjusted her footing and brought up her balled fists, which immediately became engulfed in a mass of flames. "If you insist."

Loxus let out an exasperated sigh and pinched at the bridge of her nose.

Basilex drew her sword - a thin rapier doused in poisons - and pointed it directly at Xeymil. She waited, chuckling under her breath as she shifted her weight between her feet, faking movement in every direction. Xeymil ducked out of the way of a bluffed strike and into a quick somersault. As she was doing so, the nobody was already working on creating a tight ball of fire between the palms of her hands. When she popped up again Xeymil released this in Basilex's direction. The fireball whizzed past her opponent's face, warming it slightly. Basilex laughed in response to the heat and lunged toward Xeymil, matching the other's earlier acrobatics with her own before each strike in an attempt to catch her off guard.

The duel went on like this for another full minute or so. Xeymil continually twirled about, hurling blaze after blaze from her Jazz Hands in a variety of forms. Basilex meanwhile expertly dodged each of the other nobody's advances and slashed out with her sword at each opportunity as it presented itself. Her strikes were light, though from the look in her eye it was more of a calculated strategy than out of concern for her comrade. They back and forth for some time, each attempting to land blows and simultaneously exhaust their opponent.

After a while the both of them backed off a bit and began to circle one another, panting slightly. Basilex made a note of a thin cut now running across Xeymil's cheek. Xeymil either hadn't realized she'd been nicked herself or was making a point of not reacting to it. The heat from Xeymil's attacks had obviously damaged Basilex's clothing, but there was no sign of harm save for the smell of a few burnt hairs.

Their eyes locked, Basilex and Xeymil waited for another beat before they charged at one another for the next round. But they didn't get very far before being stopped by a pair of double-ended blue-tipped lances - a pair of weapons Loxus called Hurricane, although more specifically, the one in her left hand was Boreas and the right Notus. Each was positioned dangerously close to Basilex and Xeymil's throats.

"That's enough for now," Loxus announced. She had jumped between the nobodies and was currently poised with her weapons out at her sides. A strip of Loxus' shirt collar stuck out from beneath her cloak, covering her mouth entirely and thus making it difficult to always read her expressions. And the woman's vacant blue eyes did very little to help in this matter.

Xeymil drew in a sharp breath and let the fire extinguish from her fists. She took a step back and took the time to heal herself. But Basilex didn't look quite as willing to do the same. "We were just starting to get to the _fun_ part, Loxus. She's barely even bleeding yet; you can't really mean to stop us just yet." While her blade was lowered, her arm was still tensed and ready to move at the slightest provocation. When Loxus did not immediately step aside, the manic smile began contorting into a scowl, seeming disgusted at the interruption.

"I am not one to pick sides," Loxus spoke, "and the thought of you taking one another out concerns me not in the least. However, it is a very real possibility that there are but three of us left in the Organization." The others no longer looked like they were on the verge of ripping out one another's throats, so Loxus held down her Hurricane. "Let's not do our keywielding friend any favors."

"How are we supposed to decide on the new leader then, huh?" questioned Basilex.

"I see no reason for us to appoint one," droned Loxus. The nobody turned her attention to the glass walls now and slowly paced toward them again, glossy eyes fixed out on the dark sky. "Together we are tasked with rebuilding the Organization. Finishing what Xemnas started… Kingdom Hearts…"

Basilex had tucked away her weapon at this point. She placed her hands on her waist now and cocked her hip out to the side. " _Fine_ ," she huffed. "But now if we're all gonna pretend we don't outrank one another, don't expect me to follow any bogus direct orders. I work for myself, and will help out only when convenient."

Xeymil looked vaguely annoyed by Basilex's response but didn't speak up on the matter. Instead she asked, "What about the grunt work? Collecting hearts?"

Loxus hummed for a moment, not turning to face her comrades. "We'll find a way," she said after a while. "And I think I know where we might start…"

 **..:: Keyblade Masters' Pavilion ::..**

"So… Got any sevens?" asked one of the three women sitting around a table. There were cards in her and the others' hands, which is obviously what she had asked about. Her wavy brown hair fell over one shoulder and she shifted slightly to lean forward, the strapless pink dress she was wearing beginning to slide down slightly because it wasn't quite fitting properly. Or due to her bad posture on long game nights, one of the two.

The question was not well received, the other two women rolling their eyes. The one with short brown hair sighed heavily, one hand covering her blue eyes as she looked down to the star charm around her neck. She stayed silent; her partner, however, did not.

"Emily. For thousandth time, we are playing poker, not GO FISH."

The woman that spoke had a blonde ponytail and expressive green eyes and was dressed head to toe in varying shades of blue. The second looked over to her. "Soul, calm down. It's been a long night-"

"I am calm, Basil! Don't tell me to calm down." She crossed her arms in a huff.

"Blaise." The other corrected. "And it has been a long night, as I was saying, and I doubt Emily has much left to bet anyway so she was probably just trying to-"

"I was on a winning streak!"

"Yes, well-"

Suddenly, a flash of light. All three were transported from their poker table to the top room of a mysterious tower. Behind the sole desk in the room sat an old man in blue robes with an impressively long beard indicating he was a wise old wizard.

 **..:: Mysterious Tower ::.**

"Master Yen Sid!" Soul and Blaise both addressed him, bowing their heads before looking back to him. Emily waved at him somewhat awkwardly, unsure of the cause of such formality.

Yen Sid seemed to ignore both of these things, and looked at the three the way one might look at three individuals about to be sent on a mission way over their heads due to no safer alternatives available that is surely bound to end with disaster and heartbreak as well as be fraught with misunderstandings and betrayal. But that would just be crazy, right?

"Masters Soul and Blaise, and young Emily, I have a mission for the three of you."

Oh.

Soul and Blaise stiffened slightly. Missions for trios of keyblade wielders rarely went well for those involved. Though, things rarely went well for keyblade wielders at all, really. Honestly, why did ANYONE bother with them? Nonetheless, they waited for his explanation tensely. Emily, meanwhile, had all the apprehension of a small child in a candy store.

"As I am sure you have heard, two wielders, Sora and Riku, have been tasked with reawakening the Sleeping Worlds." Soul and Blaise looked at each other from the corners of their eyes. Had they been told? It certainly seemed like new information. Other Masters rarely told them much of anything. Nonetheless, the wizard continued: "As such, I am in need of others to journey across new worlds that have entered the Realm of Light and become connected. Something is causing the barriers across these worlds to deteriorate even now, and it must be stopped."

"Of course." Blaise bowed her head as she spoke. "We'd be glad to, Master Yen Sid. Do you have any idea who or what is causing this?"

Soul remained silent but bowed her head as well, looking at Blaise out of the corner of her eye. Didn't she realize they were only being asked because they were the _backup_ pawns? Emily hadn't even finished her training and was likely clueless about the other wielders, but she knew that Blaise was aware. Emily leaned back against the wall of the study, realizing at this point that no one seemed to have any interest in what she may have to say on the matter. Best to let everyone else talk it out and tag along with the other two.

"The most obvious suspect is Xehanort, but I presume him to be otherwise… occupied. You may be facing a new threat entirely. This is why I require all three of you. The mission is far too dangerous for anyone alone."

Soul scowled with her head still bowed. Vague, dangerous, and an unknown threat. Not only were they backup pawns, they were _disposable_ backup pawns. Could the others really be okay with it? She and Blaise raised their heads in unison and briefly looked each other in the eyes. Soul was obviously enraged, Blaise's eyes holding determination and caution, but softened at Soul in an obvious attempt to calm her. She failed. Soul looked away, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. Blaise looked back to Yen Sid who simply nodded at them as a dismissal. The Keyblade Masters turned and left the room, making sure Emily followed behind them.

As soon as they left the study, Emily began excitedly blabbering about the mission. She had never been called on for anything like this before, and as such was quite excited at the idea.

"Oh, this is all so exciting, isn't it!" the young wielder breathed. "I'll finally get to go and explore other worlds! And with my two best friends, to boot! I'm so happy I could cry! _Seriously!_ "

The masters did nothing to quell her enthusiasm and simply walked in silence, waiting until they were outside of the tower. Soul spoke as soon as the door closed behind them. "Basil, does anything about this seem at all suspicious to you?"

"Blaise. And suspicious? We're being asked to find the cause of the barriers between undiscovered worlds breaking down. The only suspicious thing is why he doesn't think it is Xehanort."

"That is exactly what I'm talking about, Basil! Why does he think Xehanort is busy with something else? This is exactly the sort of thing he has been doing for years, but all of a sudden when we get called in, his attentions are elsewhere. He didn't trust us to deal with Xehanort, but is willing to throw us at whatever _else_ is doing this?"

"I'm sure that Master Yen Sid has good intentions. With an unknown threat, he knew he needed someone to investigate, and out of all the wielders he chose us. Besides, Xehanort likely doesn't know about us, and he definitely doesn't know about Emily. So it is best we stay off his radar. Especially after what happened twelve years ago to the last wielders that got his attention…"

Blaise trailed off, unable to look either of her friends in the eye. Soul seemed to have a retort on the tip of her tongue but just huffed and looked away again. Pushing the matter was obviously getting nowhere, and it was best to drop it. Emily however, was clueless.

"Um, who is Xehanort exactly? And what are we even supposed to be doing?" the girl blinked.

Blaise and Soul looked at each other in shock. They had been focusing on helping the younger wielder train, of course, but surely they hadn't neglected to tell her anything about the biggest threat to the worlds while they were doing so? They looked to Emily, hoping she was joking. The confusion on her face made it clear that she was, in fact, not. Blaise hid her face in her hands. "I KNEW we forgot to teach her something. God! How could we just never tell her about any of that? We're terrible at this - no wonder we get excluded so much!"

Soul was caught somewhat off guard by Blaise's outburst. Yes, it was a big deal and a ridiculous oversight, but surely she was overreacting? She awkwardly pat the other girl on the back in an attempt to console her. "There… there… Basil?" She paused, waiting for the other to correct her, but it never came. "Uhm. Shouldn't we… Be going off to the first world? We can explain everything on the way?"

The prospect of getting the mission underway seemed to snap Blaise out of her despair and she straightened her posture with her fists balled at her side. "Right!" She activated her armor with a quick smack of her hand against her upper arm, silver and purple armor appearing on her after the resulting flash of light. Emily and Soul summoned their armor as well, Emily's being pink and white and Soul's being blue and gold. The trio also summoned their keyblades, using them to leave the tower behind as they took off towards the first world in their journey.

 **..:: Dawn's Peak ::..**

They landed together and dismissed their armor, looking around the world they landed in. It was a city as far as they could tell, and they were in some sort of plaza. The sky overhead was dim, cast in blues and pinks, appearing to be on the verge of dawn. It was warm and luckily, the area they landed in was deserted enough so no one noticed their arrival. Blaise was the first to spot a sign with a name. "Dawn's Peak?" She read almost in question.

"Guess this place is on a mountain." Soul observed, walking around the plaza and peering down the adjoining streets and alleys. "Not that it tells us why we were able to get here. Barriers don't just disappear for no reason. And I'm not seeing anything suspicious…"

"We literally JUST got here. A look around and we'll figure it out, I'm sure."

Emily yelped in surprise suddenly, realizing a heartless had appeared only inches away from her. She summoned her keyblade and swatted at it, making it disappear. Soul and Blaise had their keyblades at the ready as more began to appear. The three backed up against each other, watching as the swarm grew larger. "Well, I think I found the problem," Soul said flatly.

"Guess we'll just have to solve this little problem." Blaise replied. After a brief pause, the three all leapt outward at the same moment, each diving into a section of the swarm, swinging their keyblades and casting spells in an attempt to deal with them all. While individually the heartless were weak, all being of the Shadow variety, they did pose a bit of a challenge in such a large group. They watched each other's backs more than their own, bursts of fire and ice erupting for the tips of their keyblades to take out the enemies flanking the other wielders.

The numbers dwindled slowly, but with a fair amount of skill, endurance (more healing magic and potions than endurance but who was really keeping score?), and teamwork the plaza was clearing. Finally, Soul hurled her keyblade at the few remaining heartless between her and Emily, summoning it back to her as she panted slightly. "Is that… the last of them?"

"I think so. That was a pretty big horde though, especially in the middle of a town," Blaise replied, keeping her keyblade ready at her side in case of another wave. For a moment, it was silent. That was, until a red-headed woman began approaching the group, quietly applauding them. She was dressed casually - all in white, beige, and army green except for her fiery red hair that was piled up in a bun on top of her head - and had no obvious weapon on her, but the wielders didn't drop their guard.

"Impressive, I've not seen anyone able to deal with the heartless that well ever since they showed up," the woman said. "Which means… you must not be from Dawn's Peak. Probably something to do with those keyblades."

"You know about the keyblade?" Soul asked, shifting herself slightly in front of Emily.

"And about the other worlds, apparently," Blaise added, mirroring Soul's movement.

"No need to be so worried; I'm just a scientist. I research the heart and the keyblade. It

became a popular field of study once people began finding excerpts of the notes from Ansem the Wise." She paused, seeing them relax slightly. "My name's Willow. I work here with another scientist named Scottie, and if you three have a moment and wouldn't mind helping us out with something, I'd like you to come with me."

The trio looked at each other, Emily obviously much more excited and willing than the others. The Masters shrugged at each other before nodding to Willow. "I'm Emily! I'm in training to be a Keyblade Master, and these two are Blaise and Soul; they already passed their Mark of Mastery."

"Two Masters, huh? Well that explains why you were able to deal with that horde, probably took out most of the heartless in the town. Though from what I understand, they seem to seek out the keyblade. I'm going to have to ask you to follow me at a bit of a distance then. I'm not as well equipped to deal with-"

"Willow! There you are! Going out for five minutes my ass - you're out here on the other side of town!" another voice from across the square shouted. This time it was a man with messy and curly dark brown hair and green eyes so bright they were visible from a considerable distance. He also wore a monocle and a bright red shirt with a black cape, so it was possible that he was, perhaps, a bit on the eccentric side. Also, was that a crown on his head?

"Ah, seems we may not need to go back to the lab after all," Willow said, raising an eyebrow as the agitated man crossed the plaza to reach them. "Scottie, I've found some Keyblade Masters from another world. Possibly multiple other worlds, I didn't bother asking for a backstory, but they might be able to help us with that problem."

Scottie frowned. "You mean Pink running off with the gummi ship? Suppose we should ask someone to track her down. Though I STILL think that she'll come back on her own after she calms down."

"Maybe if you hadn't called her useless and thrown her out of the lab the second heartless started appearing. _Then_ we wouldn't be defenseless."

"Um. Hate to interrupt, but you wanted us to help with something? I guess you want us to track down… Pink, was it?" Blaise interjected before the two spun off into an argument.

"Oh, yeah. Our friend is a sorceress and wanted to try to help us figure out how to stop the heartless, but she kept getting in the way of our research and _someone_ may have blown up on her a little bit. So she stole our gummi ship and flew off to who knows where," Willow answered with a pointed glance at Scottie. She dug out her wallet and managed to find a photo of the sorceress. Sure enough it was the aptly named Pink, judging by the long pastel pink hair. She also seemed to be mostly wearing pink, so it wouldn't be too hard to spot her or confuse her for anyone else. "Here, take the picture. Just bring her, and our ship, back. We're worried about her on her own."

Blaise nodded and took the photograph from the other woman. "Can do."

Scottie shook his head suddenly. "You almost made me forgot - the reason I ran out looking for you! Willow, when Pink ran off she possibly didn't do a good job of sealing off the lab's entrance. I stepped away for five minutes - _actually_ five minutes, not "five minutes according to Willow" - and when I came back in there were heartless had invited themselves inside and were helping themselves to our research!"

Willow's eyes widened in alarm. "They WHAT?"

"I fought off a few of them, but there were too many for me to handle by myself."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't chased off Pink this wouldn't be the case."

Scottie frowned. "Yeah, and if the sorceress hadn't run off they wouldn't have come in in the first place. I get it. Now, maybe instead of coming down on me you and your new friends could, I don't know, help out with the pest control?"

Willow looked from Blaise to Soul. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Lead the way," Soul answered.

Willow nodded and she and Scottie took off down the road that went further down the hill they were on. When they arrived at the entrance to the lab, the keywielders were surprised to see that the building had a cozy cottage-like feel to it, except that it was considerably larger than your typical cottage in the woods and, again, very much not in the middle of the woods.

Scottie went up to the front door and located a panel beside it, which is pulled open and punched a code into. The wooden doors pulled apart mechanically before the group.

"You sealed the heartless inside?!" Willow hissed.

"Well, I didn't want more getting in!"

Now that the door was opened more, they could already see three or four heartless running around.

"Ugh, they're like rodents!" Scottie wrinkled his nose.

Without further prompting Soul and Blaise got out their respective keyblades and took off inside of the lab. Emily scrambled to summon her own keyblade and followed after them.

"Well, like hell I'm just gonna stand here and let them destroy our workspace," Willow said. She moved aside part of her jacket and retrieved a coiled whip that was attached to her belt. The woman stepped inside the lab and flung it out it front of herself, stopping a heartless that was preparing to pounce at Soul from behind dead in its tracks.

Scottie hesitated a moment and looked over his shoulder before calling out "Leave some for me!" and charging into the fray.

Emily looked back at the people she'd just met with wonder as Willow continued to crack her whip at the heartless, knocking each of them back in turn. Scottie reached into a sword belt around his waist and unsheathed a long… stick? Emily cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly the end of the stick lit up like a torch and Scottie gripped it with two hands and swung it like a baseball bat and a heartless that had leapt at him. Emily smiled a little and went back to bashing at the heartless swarm with her keyblade.

Meanwhile, Blaise and Soul's fighting seemed to be so in sync with one another that it was almost like a dance. "Blizzaga!" Soul shouted, firmly planting her feet into the ground and sending a wave of ice out at the four or so heartless in her line of sight. Blaise ran up ahead and jumped onto the wall, proceeding to run sideways alongside it just above the blast zone. When she jumped down again she hurled her keyblade across the air, smacking each of the temporarily frozen heartless. The Keyblade Master immediately whirled around in a circle and lifted her hand and her weapon was quickly returned to it.

Right as she finished her spin, Blaise swung her arms across her body, sending a heartless that Soul and knocked in her direction flying across the room and then into a puff of black and purple smoke.

It was hard for Emily to keep from getting distracted with stuff like that going on. Her moves were much less impressive and her spells less advanced in comparison. Rather, her specialty seemed to be dodge rolling, which she did often, even when it wasn't necessary. Emily tended to take less damage this way and always got out of catching enemies by surprise when she popped up again.

Also kicking. Emily was quite a fan of the roundhouse kick, although this tended to be even less useful.

Between the five of them, the battle didn't last all that long. Once all the heartless had cleared they regrouped at the center of the room, still panting to an extent.

"The excitement never ends," Soul mused. "One of the best parts of the job, I suppose."

"Oh, poor baby!" Willow whined, pressing her hands to her cheeks. "What did they do to you?!"

She was, of course, referring to the lab, definitely wasn't in the same state as when she had left it. They were currently in a large open space that had several closed doors attached it it. Tables and chairs and a few other pieces of furniture were turned on their side and scattered around the room were multiple stacks worth of paper and various beakers and other containers, some with their contents spilled out and/or shattered.

"Cleanup on aisle everywhere," agreed Scottie. "At least it's all still there and they didn't run off with any of it, as heartless have been known to do. Or that's the assumption. And hope." The man let out a weary sigh and hunched over the scoop up small stack of papers and threw them down on a nearby countertop.

"We can help with that too!" Emily offered, already scrambling to pick up all of the pages that were by her feet.

"Thanks, but you've already helped enough," Willow replied and took the papers from her. "Scottie and I will handle things here."

"You sure?" asked Blaise.

"Yeah. You guys just worry about bringing Pink back to us in one piece, alright?"

The trio promised that they would and left Willow and Scottie to clean up their lab.

"So what now?" Emily inquired on their way out.

Soul shrugged. "Well, we barely got here, so no sense in running off looking for Pink just yet. Right now our schedule includes hacking up more heartless and trying to locate this world's keyhole."

"Oh… Okay. And how do we-"

But Emily's question was cut short when something flew down at them from above, striking the pavement in front of the girls and making them jump a little. They could see now that it was a staff: long, wooden, and covered in dents and knobs. A thin vine coiled around it, out of which several blue and green leaves had sprouted. The top of the staff curled in around a small blue orb.

Emily blinked down at the staff, which was stuck at an angle in the gravel pathway right at her feet. "Um. Okay?"

"Now, this is curious," a stranger said. "Wix wasn't aware that there were any more wielders on the move. Or were you the backup trio, sent out on an insignificant task in a poor attempt to make you feel special like that boy that took down the Organization?"

They could see him standing atop a stone wall a good ten feet in front of and above them. The man was dressed in all black, but not an Organization XIII robe. Rather, it was more a black jumpsuit, covered by a knee-length cloak that wrapped around his shoulders. His hair was at a medium length, laying sideways over itself and then swooping up into a point, and orangey red in color. This also matched his moustache, which was thick and curled out to the sides.

Soul had obviously tensed up quite a bit at the phrase 'backup trio,' and noticing this, Blaise placed a careful hand out in her direction. Soul met Blaise's eyes, swallowed, and then turned her gaze back up at the stranger.

"No matter," he went on. The man lifted his right arm and at the same time the staff began to disintegrate right in front of them, only to rematerialize into his hand. "If there are wielders afoot, then that means there is fun to be had, and Wix shall waste no time getting in on it."

"Are… you called Wix, then?" Emily asked.

Soul's nostrils flared. "This guy's rubbing me the wrong way. If it's a fight he wants, then fine; I'm game. But I'm in no mood to stand around and chat."

"Soul…" Blaise warned.

"You're game?" the man - Wix, probably - replied mockingly. "In that case, then I do have a game for you, if you're up for it. Perhaps you've heard of it. You may ask me any question you like…" He paused to jump down from the ledge, landing in a crouch and then straightening slowly as if it were hardly a feat. "And I can only respond with another question," he finished his sentence. "But give me a statement, and I shall throw another back at you. But if I answer your question with a question, then you must ask another."

"But… is there any point system? How does one win go about winning?" Emily wondered aloud.

Wix tilted his head to the side slightly. "Do you think that all games are about winning?"

The girl shrugged. "I… I assumed so. Yes."

"That wasn't a question," he informed her. And with that the orange-haired man thrust his staff out in front of himself. A teal stream of crackling light shot out from its orb and struck Emily in her chest, knocking her over and a good couple of feet backwards.

"Hey!" Soul shouted. "Leave her alone!" At a moment's notice Soul's keyblade was in her grasp and the woman charged at the stranger, swinging hard with her weapon. He reacted by knocking his staff up against the keyblade, intercepting its strike.

"Wix was only obeying the rules of the game," the man told her calmly. He pushed both of their weapons down and to their respective sides.

"We never agreed to play," Soul growled at the man.

"And yet here we are," Wix shrugged.

Soul narrowed her eyes, hesitated briefly, and then lashed out at him with her keyblade again.

"Soul!" Blaise called out.

But Soul ignored her fellow keyblade master instead of trading blows with the man. After knocking their weapons against each other like a swordfight for a short while Wix jumped over Soul, flipping once in the air before landing on the other side of her. He turned and swung his staff. The orb began to glow and many tiny glowing green leaves materialized and began to circle Soul in a violent storm. The wielder held up her free arm and stumbled backwards, unable to see through the wind and magic leaves.

Blaise thrust a fire spell at him, nicking the man in his shoulder and causing him to turn his attention over to the second keyblade master. Blaise was already rushing at him, keyblade at the ready. Wix smiled crookedly and swung his staff out to the side. This caused the leaves he had previously conjured to stop what they'd been doing and now whiz in Blaise's direction, causing a series of papercut-like injuries as they brushed past her exposed skin.

Blaise cast a quick aero spell which engulfed her in a clear ball of wind. This successfully stopped any of the leaves from further attacking her. Now freed from the chaos they'd caused, Soul immediate started to attack Wix again.

Wix took another two blows to the chest and one to his shoulder before managing to send another teal beam shooting from the staff Soul. Soul rooted her feet firmly into the ground and was able to stop the stream from knocking her off her feet, but it did slide her backwards a ways and sent an electric jolt through her body that continued to pulse painfully throughout the attack and briefly afterward.

The man pulled back and then shot a similar beam in Blaise's direction. Blaise, however, managed to dodge roll underneath the beam and then ran close enough to the man to strike him with her keyblade.

The battle continued like this for another minute or two, during which time both Soul and Blaise were too engulfed in the fight to notice that Emily wasn't fighting alongside them. Finally Soul brought her weapon down fiercefully upon Wix's head and he burst apart in the form of many small leaves that fluttered down to the floor harmless. Soul and Blaise blinked in surprise at this and exchanged confused glances.

"Well, well. That was… unexpected, but for a trial run, I am impressed. You are both quite talented."

The Keyblade Masters lifted their chins to see that Wix was now standing atop the ledge again. But this time he had Emily at his side, a fistful of her hair balled in one hand and the glowing orb of his wooden staff pressed against her neck with the other.

"Let her go!" Blaise demanded.

"First put down your keyblades," Wix instructed.

Soul looked to Blaise, who took a deep breath before nodding once. Looking rather pissed off by the whole ordeal, Soul dropped her blade a little ways in front of herself and then Soul followed suit.

The man smiled crookedly at this. "You wielders are all the same. You pretend to be brave, and strong… but you're not strong, are you? Not really. No. You're weak - all of you. And do you know why that is?" He paused and waited for either of them to give him an answer. "It's because you care," he explained when no one would. "You care too much. And that will be your downfall. But it will be a slow and painful downfall. Wix will have his fun with you yet."

With that Wix removed his staff from its threatening position and gave Emily a hard shove off the edge of the wall in front of himself. Soul and Blaise instinctively dismissed their keyblades and dove to break Emily's fall. All three of them were knocked over in a heap over the concrete. By the time they had gotten off of one another and to their feet, Wix was nowhere to be seen.

"What a jerk," hissed Soul.

"I wonder what he wanted with us?" Emily asked.

"Who cares? We have enough trouble on our hands with the heartless situation. The last thing we need is some Organization XIII knockoff running around picking fights over nothing."

Emily sighed. "I just want to understand, that's all."

"As do I," agreed Blaise. "That man was a sorcerer. He ought to have been using his abilities to help fight the heartless."

"Not everyone uses their talents for good," Soul reminded her companion.

"I know. And it's a shame."

"Well, it keeps our job relevant," Soul grunted. "Suppose we haven't seen the last of that Wix guy either, huh?"

"No; I got a similar impression," Blaise agreed. "But there isn't much to do about it but keep up our game, which I should hope we were planning on doing as it were."

Soul nodded. "And so the quest for the keyhole to this world continues. Emily, would you like to lead the way?'

Her apprentice's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. "This way!" Emily let out and began bounding back up the hill's winding stone path as Blaise and Soul followed from a little ways behind.

"And if we don't manage to find this world's keyhole?" Soul asked her companion. "What then?"

Blaise shrugged. "We will eventually. Some keyholes take a little more work before they choose to reveal themselves. If that turns out to be the case with this world, then as soon as it's for the time being safe from heartless we can head out again and return later. We promised to come back with Pink anyway."

"A fair point."

Soul stopped walking suddenly. As soon as Blaise noticed she stopped as well and looked back at her fellow Keyblade Master.

"Is something the matter?" Blaise asked.

"Basil. I just wanted to say that… I'm glad I'm here. I realize I have a skill for coming off sounding ungrateful, but I mean it. You, me, Emily… out in the worlds and protecting them from heartless… It's what we're meant to do."

Blaise smiled back. "We shouldn't let Emily get too far ahead," she told Soul. "If and when she runs into the next clump of heartless we should be there for her."

 **..:: The World That Never Was ::..**

"Are you alright?" Loxus asked.

Xeymil was standing several feet further down the balcony than her. The nobody was bent forward, leaning over the bordering wall, and seemingly staring quietly down at the nighttime cityscape below. She didn't seem to hear Loxus at first, and so Loxus came up beside her and said her name.

"Xeymil?"

Xeymil turned her head. "I had a dream," she said, red tinted eyes meeting Loxus' icy blue ones.

Loxus stared back at her blankly. "Nobodies don't dream."

"Well, then it wasn't a dream. A memory, perhaps. I don't know. I saw a little girl in pink, and she was with an older man. Much older, and wearing a robe. Perhaps he was her grandfather?"

"You needn't feel the obligation to share," Loxus told her.

But Xeymil went right on as if she hadn't heard: "Actually, I think he looked sort of like a wizard. Anyway. They were in this castle courtyard, or at least that's what it looked like. Everything was white and pristine… Anyway. They went inside and met these two older girls. Keyblade wielders, but not any I've heard of before. At least I don't think so. The old man spoke to them both, and I don't remember what he said - actually I don't think I could even hear what anyone was saying - but not long after he'd said it the two wielders began to bicker. Things were starting to get heated, looking just short of an actual battle, when they noticed the little girl in pink was crying. They both hugged her and then the man left…"

Loxus watched Xeymil with one eyebrow raised for some time as she tried to decide if she had quite finished. "Well, that's an interesting story," she spoke, deciding she had, "although I hardly see what point you were trying to make with it."

"That's just the thing!" insisted Xeymil. "It came totally out of the blue! I didn't recognize any of those people, or that place, but… something felt awfully familiar about it. Like I'd been there before, a long time ago."

Loxus shrugged. "It's possible. Our tasks within the old Organization had taken us to so many worlds."

"That's not what I mean. Like, I got the feeling I'd been THERE. At that moment, specifically. And was reliving it. Deja vu, or whatever. Do you think it means something?"

Loxus hesitated for several moments before responding. "I think you're looking too far into it. If this… whatever it was will prove to be a distraction from your mission, then it's best to not dwell on such things."

Xeymil's eyes met Loxus' for some time before the nobody finally let them drop. She placed her hands over the balcony's wall and leaned over it again, now gazing down at the moonlit cityscape below. Xeymil took a deep breath, exhaled, and closed her eyes.

"Things would be simpler if Xemnas were still here. At least, when he was, I never had any doubts about what we were trying to accomplish. About if we would succeed." Xeymil's eyes fluttered open once more. "I didn't ask questions because I never had any. And I was much better at following orders than figuring out the path ahead for myself. We all were."

"And yet you thought you were most suited to claim the position of Number One," Loxus reminded her.

"It's a power thing. Wanting power, maybe even deserving it… It's not the same as knowing what to do with it. But that's a thing you can get better at. I've never been doubtful of my ability to adapt. After all, I got used to being a nobody just fine."

Loxus looked out at the night sky with her thoughtfully. "Could be because you don't remember who you were before this life," she said softly. "This is the only life you've ever known. Makes adjusting considerably easier."

"You don't remember your previous life either, do you?"

"You already know that I don't."

Xeymil turned around so that her back was now leaning up against the wall. "Would it change things at all? If you did, I mean."

Loxus was quiet for a long time. She slowly paced up to the opened doorway back inside the castle and stopped. Xeymil waited patiently. After another couple seconds Loxus turned to face her again.

"I suppose we'll never know," Loxus said and then promptly dismissed herself.

"Yeah," Xeymil muttered after her, even though Loxus could no longer hear her words. "I suppose not."

But try as she might, she couldn't get the image of the little girl in pink out of her head. There was something very familiar about it all, and yet she was almost certain that she'd never met the girl before. And a part of her was relieved for this.


	2. Tropical Paradise

**..:: Tropical Paradise ::..**

The door creaked open slowly and a girl that was clearly no longer a child but not quite an adult yet either poked her head through it into the bedroom.

"Hey," she whispered to another much smaller girl sitting on her bed with a plush doll. The older girl hesitated for a moment before stepping all the way inside and stopping at the side of the bed. She had a plate out in front of herself. "I brought you some pizza. In case you were hungry."

But the younger girl wouldn't meet her eyes. "We're a broken family, aren't we?" she asked.

"No!" the older girl disagreed, eyes widening. She set the plate down on a nearby nightstand and knelt down. "Maybe," she winced. "A little. Maybe a lot… I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"We're sisters," the younger one countered. "It's our job."

"Yeah, well. From now on-"

"I like you better as a sister than a mom."

The other girl smiled weakly and put her elbows up onto the bed. "Yeah?"

"And you like me better as a sister than a rabbit!" the little one sniffled, lowering her head.

"Ohhh. Oh, oh oh oh oh…" Her older sister Nani looked at her sadly and then scooped her up into her arms and sat on the bed with the little girl in her lap in one fluid motion. "Yes," Nani said softly. "Yes. I do."

"I hit Mertle Edmonds today," the girl admittedly sheepishly.

"You hit her?"

"Before I bit her."

"You… bit her. Lilo, you shouldn't!"

"People treat me different," the girl, Lilo, muttered.

Lilo's older sister brushed her hand against Lilo's cheek. "They just don't know what to say. I'll tell you what, if you PROMISE not to fight anymore, I promise not to yell at you. Except on special occasions," she added quickly, petting her head.

"Tuesdays and bank holidays would be good," suggested Lilo.

"Yeah? Would that be good?"

Nani placed her hands over Lilo's shoulders, leaning forward, and they both chuckled.

"Oh!" Lilo gasped and over Nani's leg to her nightstand, where she picked up a polaroid camera and handed it off to her sister. "My camera's full again! Aren't they beautiful?" she whispered, looking to the wall beside her bed, which was lined with photographs of strangers doing fairly ordinary and uninteresting, occasionally awkward, things. Nani raised an eyebrow at these.

All at once the lights cut out and both girls whirled their heads around. A green light suddenly came from the window and lit up the now dark room. Lilo crawled excitedly to the foot of her bed and jumped down. The girl ran over to the window and peered out of it.

Outside she could see a bright green something shooting across the night sky, plummeting down to earth. Nani was at her side now and peering out at the thing as well.

"A falling star!" Lilo exclaimed.

The supposed star disappeared into a stretch of trees in the distance and hit the ground with very loud and very green explosion.

-x-

The trio hadn't found the last world's keyhole, but cleared as many heartless as there seemed to be for the time being and ultimately decided that they would come back with Pink to try again. Now they found themselves on a beach. The sand was warm and soft between one's toes (as can be confirmed by Emily, who immediately slipped out of her shoes when she saw where she was). To one side of them a low tide crashed against the shore, to the other were lush green plants, primarily palm trees. Above the sky was a bright blue.

"Are these the Destiny Islands?" Emily asked as she looked at the world around her, eyes wide with wonderment.

Blaise made a face and turned back towards her. "You know about that?"

The Keyblade Master's apprentice nodded vigorously. "Of course I do! That's where Master Sora grew up. Before he saved the worlds. Twice!"

"Guess she does pay attention to the random, though admittedly few, history lessons we give," Blaise mused.

"Except unlike us, Sora isn't technically a Keyblade Master," Soul pointed out. "Not yet anyway. Last I heard the kid was finally getting around to it, at least."

"To answer your question," Blaise went on, "no; these aren't the Destiny Islands. But whatever they are is quite lovely."

Something came running towards them then on all fours. It was small and blue, and unlike any creature they'd seen before. Thing bounded up to the group, knocking up sand all the while, before switching to running on two legs once it got fairly close. It stopped then and stared up at the three wielders, who exchanged glances, blinking, and then stared back down at it.

"Um."

"Fren!" the creature called out in rather distinctive voice that sounded almost like gargling.

"I'm… sorry?" Blaise said and doubled over with her hands on her knees.

"Fren!" it repeated. "Akoowah… Terra… Ven! Fren!"

The animal grinned a toothy grin. Almost like it was very much pleased with itself and thought that they should be as well.

Blaise looked over at Soul, who merely shrugged and said "Hey, I don't speak small blue alien thing."

"Oh! Hi!" a little girl's voice called out. They hadn't noticed her before, but now a small child with brown skin and jet black hair ran up and stopped just behind the thing. "I'm Lilo, and that's my dog, Stitch!" She pointed to the animal as if it weren't obvious what she was referring to. "I think he likes you guys. He doesn't usually sit still this long."

"Stitch!" Emily gasped and pressed her hands to her cheeks. She was, of course, still carrying her slip on pink shoes in one hand.

"Dog?" Soul echoed skeptically.

"Lilo! Lilo, what have I told you about talking to strangers!"

Nani came running up to the group and bent forward to put her hands over Lilo's shoulders. "I'm so sorry, was she bothering you?"

"Not at all!" Blaise insisted. "Are you her mother?"

Nani blinked. "Wh? Oh, no! No, we're sisters. But I take care of her."

Blaise smiled back. "She seems like a sweet girl. You're lucky to have her as a sister."

"Um. Yeah, sometimes. Sure."

"We fight. A lot." Lilo shrugged.

"Lilo!"

"Well, it's true!"

The other girls exchanged glances and stifled chuckles. "It's alright," Soul mused. "I'm not technically related to these two and still I fight with them all the time."

"She really does," agreed Blaise. "In more ways than one."

"Hm. Are you tourists?"

"Technically, yes."

Nani smiled. "Well, in that case, I hope you enjoy your time here. It was a pleasure meeting you. Come along, Lilo." The girl tapped her sister on her shoulder and nodded back towards the direction they'd come from. Nani took Lilo's hand then and started to lead her away.

"Stitch!" Lilo called out, leaning back. "Stitch, c'mon! We're going!"

Emily had crouched down and was cautiously reaching out to pet Stitch's head. The creature had plopped down on his butt and blinked back at her as she did so. But moments before Emily actually got to touch his blue fur, Stitch started to growl and leapt at her, tackling the girl into the sand with a yelp of surprise.

"Stitch!" Lilo gasped, seeing. She tore out of her older sister's grasp and scooped Stitch up into her arms.

"LILO!" Nani let out.

"I'm sorry!" Lilo shouted as she ran down the beach with Stitch pressed up against her despite the fact that he was nearly as big as the little girl. "He didn't mean to!"

"I… Lilo!" Nani shouted again. She looked worriedly to the three keyblade wielders before taking off after Lilo and her questionable dog.

"You alright?" Soul asked, looking down at Emily.

Emily shrugged. "He was just playing. I think."

"At what? Being a heartless?"

"Well. They seemed nice enough, anyway," Blaise commented, watching the family still. "Shall we keep hunting for keyholes and actual heartless now?"

-x-

"I, uh, I'm not so sure that this is a good idea!" the first of the alien creatures let out in a very shrill voice. He was thin and green, with a large single eyeball, noodle like arms and skin that looked a lot squishier than it may've actually been.

His companion was quite the contrast in appearance. He was large and purple, with four squinty eyes - two lined up on each side of his dog-like nose. He was called Jumba, and the other Pleakley.

"Nonsense!" bellowed Jumba. "It is an ingenious idea! In fact, I wish I'd come across one of these creatures much sooner in my career. It would have greatly accelerated my research!"

The alien was referring to a heartless. It was currently being contained in a tight glass capsule with a metal base. Compared to Jumba the creature was quite small and probably weightless, but it was easily bigger than Pleakley's head. And the heartless was surprisingly chill for having been crammed into such a compact space.

"Just look at it!" Jumna went on. "That black coloring, like looking into a void, those beady yellow eyes..."

Pleakley didn't seem any more convinced. "Yeah, um, I am looking at it, and I just don't think that-"

"And clearly destructive by nature! It and Experiment 626 have more in common than they might care to admit."

"So... your plan is to, what, exactly? Pit the destructive creature YOU created against the destructive creature you just so happened to FIND? Let them destroy one another?"

Jumba shrugged. "That would be poetic, no? But not quite what I was thinking. Rather, I intend to use this creature to lure Experiment 626 away from its human captors."

"And you're absolutely sure it'll go for the bait?"

"Of course I'm sure. Experiment 626 is also inherently curious. It will not be able to resist. And then, once the two creatures are far enough away from the humans" - Jumba paused to pat the top of the capsule - "we recapture both specimens! It is a perfect plan!"

Pleakley frowned and pressed two fingers together from his only three-fingered hands. "WELL. That's assuming we can get the creature to take Experiment 626 in the right direction, even, and that Experiment 626 will follow it even if it does, or-"

"Bah! You worry too much," grunted Jumba. "Experiment 626 WILL be back in our hands after this works. You'll see."

-x-

"Do we have to leave _now?_ " Lilo whined as she trailed behind her sister. "We barely got here!"

"Yes," Nani told her, "I'm late to meet with my next potential employer. But we can come back real soon. Don't you worry about that."

"Maybe Stitch and I can wait for you here?"

Nani looked over her shoulder and down at Lilo as she walked through the sand back towards the road up ahead. "I don't think that's such a good idea," she said.

Lilo frowned. "Why not? We won't get into any trouble - I'll keep an eye on him, I promise! Right, Stitch?"

Stitch let out an incoherent noise at Lilo's side. It sounded like agreement, in any case.

" _See?_ " the little girl pressed.

But immediately afterwards something caught the alien's attention. He stopped, straightened, and lifted one ear slowly. Noticing this, Lilo stopped walking as well and turned back to face him.

"Stitch? What's the matter?"

The blue alien then took off between Lilo and Nani, sprinting towards whatever it had seen in the distance. The two girls didn't see just what the thing it was chasing was, but it looked small and black.

"Stitch!" they both called out in succession and took off after their pet.

"Hey, did you see that?" Soul asked, elbowing Blaise.

Blaise nodded grimly. "Heartless sighting, 10 o'clock." She threw an arm out to the side and summoned her keyblade.

"Put your shoes back on," Soul told Emily as her own keyblade materialized. Emily let out a groan in response to this but obliged regardless.

By the time the keywielders had caught up to Nani and Lilo the girls had apparently lost track of Stitch. They were in the thick of the tropical forest now, surrounded by palm trees and otherwise and thick bushes of various shades of green.

"Stitch!" Lilo called out, her voice filled with distress.

Blaise dismissed her keyblade as she came up from behind the girls. "We'll help you find him again," she announced.

Lilo's eyes lit up. "You will? Oh, thank you, miss!"

"You two stay here," Soul instructed. Unlike Blaise, she kept her keyblade out this entire time.

Blaise, Soul, and Emily went further into the forestry ahead of Lilo and Nani. They were surprised that there weren't more heartless around but didn't comment on this out loud to one another.

Finally the trip spotted Stitch up ahead of them, presumably still running after the heartless he'd seen. In another couple of feet he was cut off by the stocky Jumba, who dove at him and wrangled the other alien kicking and screeching into the glass capsule that he had before. Jumba turned the top half one way and the bottom the other and there was a loud click as the capsule sealed. Inside Stitch flailed about the too-tight space, scratching at it with his nails and spewing out words that definitely weren't English.

Blaise stopped right in front of him. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Jumba straightened, met Blaise's eyes, and shifted uncomfortably. "Oh. Um. This is... awkward. Forget you saw anything."

"Let Stitch go," the Keyblade Master demanded. "He isn't yours to take."

"Not mine to take?" Jumba echoed, looking like he was trying to keep from laughing. "I CREATED him!"

Suddenly Pleakley burst out of the bushes at Jumba's side, his singular eye wide with worry. He had another empty capsule in his hands. "Uh, Jumba, I sort had a complication trying to catch the other creature."

Jumba looked over at him and frowned. "You what?"

"He was too fast and then there were two of them, and I wasn't sure which was which and then I lost sight of both of them and there was this... this THING..."

"A thing? What are you talking about?"

And then they felt the ground shake. Mere seconds passed and it shook again, and again. The trees started to move up ahead and they made loud crunching sounds. Whatever was causing this was gradually getting nearer with each tremor. Next thing the entire group knew, four more shadow heartless came darting out of the nearby shrubbery and scurried toward whatever was coming at them.

-x-

"In truth, this isn't what I had in mind when you said you had a plan," Basilex said, "but if your plans typically involve getting suntan lotion rubbed into my back whilst sipping at a fruity drink, then perhaps I will consider letting you run things."

She and Loxus were walking along a wide dirt path, surrounded on both sides by bushes and palm trees. There was a beach nearby. They couldn't see the sand and ocean from where they were, but it was fairly obvious nonetheless.

"I didn't take you for being a fan of massages," Loxus commented.

"I'm not. Lay a hand on me with whatever intentions and I will happily have it removed."

"Well, before you go about severing hands, we aren't here on vacation," Loxus reminded her companion. The nobody kept her eyes fixed solely on the road ahead of them as she spoke. "Right now our numbers are few. The Organization must continue collecting hearts to replace those we lost, and until we find a more efficient way of doing it-"

"We're on newbie-level heartless sweep duty," Basilex grunted back. "Yeah. I get it, although that won't stop me from continually reminding you of just how ticked off the demotion makes me."

"Perhaps if you didn't think of it was so much of a demotion…"

Basilex snorted. "Right. Like YOU actually enjoy racking up nothing but shadows. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to our cause to, say, summon up an army of dusks to plow the heartless infested worlds for us?"

"An army?" a third voice questioned.

The both of them could now see Xeymil coming around the bend towards them. She stopped in front of Loxus and Basilex, saying, "That's an ambitious feat, even for you."

"I'm capable of many things," Basilex replied haughtily. "If one of us could do it, who do you really think the most munny would be on?"

Xeymil rolled her eyes. "Fine. If you're so confident, let's see you summon a dusk. Right here, in front of both of us."

But before Basilex had time to retaliate, either by proving Xeymil wrong or lashing out at her (the far more likely option), Loxus took a step between them. "Ladies," the nobody said calmly. "Must I separate you two?"

"No need," Xeymil answered bitterly. "I can play nice if she will."

"Mm. Would that I could."

Xeymil went on, ignoring Basilex's remark: "Anyway, I just came up the path in that direction. If there are heartless here, they sure as hell aren't showing their faces."

"Strange," Loxus muttered. "I was so sure that this world had been newly connected. Heartless should be flocking to it. That is what they've always done."

Locus had only just finished her train of thought when the ground began to tremble, and then stop again just as suddenly. The nobodies exchanged glances, unsure of what had just happened.

"Earthquake?" Xeymil offered.

Basilex disagreed, "Too large and too quick."

The ground shook a second time, considerable more than before and brought along with it a thunderous crunch between the trees up ahead and off to the side.

"Footsteps," Loxus deduced as soon as the ground had gone still again.

Another of the tremors occurred, and this time it was so powerful that the nobodies had to make a conscious effort to retain their footing. And then they saw the source of this occurrence.

It was a heartless. Or rather, many, many heartless. They were clumped together in the form of a considerably larger heartless, moving about just enough to give the combined form a very unnatural feel. Somehow it had arms, legs, a head and everything, all made up of much smaller shadow heartless.

The heartless thing was like a giant, shaking the ground with every step it took, just as Loxus had realized before seeing the creature, or creatures, for herself. It came out from the tropical forest on the right side of the road and the three nobodies watched as it made its way across the road right in front of them.

Xeymil sank into half a crouch and her Jazz Hands lit up and Basilex slowly drew her rapier. Loxus made no move for her Hurricane, but knew that she could have them out as soon as the thing made a move against them.

Except that it didn't. Rather, the multi-heartless thing just passed right across the pathway and back into the shrubbery on the left, entirely ignoring them.

"Well. That's certainly new," Loxus commented.

"But explains where all the heartless went, I suppose," Xeymil said as she dropped her attacking prep pose.

Basilex, however, wasn't about to let that battle opportunity just pass her by. She took off after the thing, leaving Loxus and Xeymil to follow after her.

It moved quite slow, so Basilex was almost caught up with the thing in no time. She was just about ready to jump the heartless boss from behind when it stopped and looked down at a group of strange people standing below it and straining their necks up at it. Curious, Basilex ducked behind a palm tree and out of their immediate line of sight.

"Wh-What is that thing?!" Emily gasped.

"Not our problem," Jumba answered for her. "Pleakley, forget the other creature - let's just take Experiment 626 and get out of here!"

"I couldn't agree more!" Pleakley squeaked, already running off ahead of Jumba, who hurried after him as fast as his stubby legs could go, gripping Stitch's capsule tightly against his stomach.

"I'll cut them off," Soul told Blaise.

Blaise dropped into a crouch with her keyblade out, preparing to jump at the heartless boss. "Take Emily with you," she instructed without looking back. "I'll deal with this thing."

Emily looked surprised. "B-But you can't!" the girl gasped. "It's too big and there are too many of them by yourself!"

"Then I'll just need to keep it busy until you two can help out. Go with Master Soul."

"But, Master Blaise-"

"GO!"

Emily swallowed and nodded seriously. She and Soul then took off in the direction that the aliens had gone, leaving Blaise to take on the heartless by herself.

Soul and Emily caught up with the two aliens quickly enough. Soul stopped running and chucked her keyblade out in front of herself. The weapon turned in the air as it whizzed in Jumba and Pleakley's direction and stuck into a palm tree a foot or so in front of them. The aliens turned around, eye(s) wide.

"Look, freaks," Soul threatened as soon as she has their attention, "I'm going to ask you once nicely, and the second time, it's not going to be so nice. Hand over the blue thing."

Jumba was quiet for a moment before letting out an almost forced laugh. "I don't know how to tell you this, human, but you are out of your league here. Clearly our technology outmatches yours, and you've just thrown aside your only weapon."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

As soon as she'd finished her reply, Soul's keyblade vanished from where it had been sticking out of the tree trunk and returned to the wielder's hand.

"Incredible!" Pleakley breathed.

"That key," Jumba said. "I have seen its kind before."

"Then you know not to try my patience."

"I suppose there will be no convincing you to let me take Experiment 626 without a fight," Jumba grunted. He handed off the capsule that Stitch was in to a nervous-looking Pleakley and reached into his belt. "Fine. I'm game."

Then, without waiting for a cue, Jumba held out a large blaster gun and fired it not at Soul, but in Emily's direction. Soul dove to the side instantly and knocked Emily out of the way and to the ground just as the green blast nicked the side of her upper arm, leaving behind a slight burn mark and bits of toxic looking goo. Gritting her teeth, Soul got back on her feet and charged at Jumba, swinging her keyblade and knocking the alien backwards with it.

He sat upright, propping himself up with one thick arm and shot another neon green blast in Soul's direction with the other. Soul jumped into the air, did a tight backwards flip over the blaster's line of fire, and landed again a good five feet back.

"Careful!" Pleakley called out. When his mouth opened like that, it was very obvious that he hand not one, but two tongues. He was still holding the capsule tight against his chest, although it was considerably larger in comparison than it had been against Jumba's. "We've gone over this, you can't harm the humans!"

"Hey, she threatened me first," Jumba defended himself. "I am the victim here."

While he wasn't looking, Soul tried to hit Jumba across the head with her keyblade. She was successful in doing so, but it didn't seem to do much damage and Jumba retaliated by grabbing the end of her weapon with both hands and flinging it and the attached Keyblade Master away from himself.

Jumba's blaster frightened Emily. She'd never been a fan of ranged combat. Typically this meant spells, but the blaster gun seemed even worse than those. The keyblade apprentice tried to help out. She made several go's at Jumba with her weapon, but ended up backing away to avoid getting hit by stray glowing blasts.

And then she had an idea.

Emily circled around the arena that the battle had sort of made, at right at Pleakley, who was either unarmed or unwilling to fight them even if he was. Pleakley saw Emily coming towards him, let out a yelp and tried to run away from her. But he was clumsy with his short tripod-esque legs. Emily had her work cut out for her.

Pleakley tumbled forward and dropped the capsule. It rolled across the ground and Stitch made gargling noises from inside. The thing rolled right up to Soul, who stopped it with her foot and then kicked it back it Emily's direction.

Emily let out a gasp and crouched down to catch it. She immediately began to pull at it, trying to pry the capsule open and release Stich, but the thing wouldn't budge. Then she felt something yank at her leg.

It was Pleakley, and he was wailing "You don't understand! We need him!"

Emily straightened, laughing Stitch on the ground in front of herself, and kicked Pleakley off. The girl then remembered a trick that Soul and Blaise had taught her for opening locked chests and figured it might be worth a try. In the couple seconds she had before Pleakley made a grab at her again, she summoned her keyblade and lightly tapped the end of it over the capsule. Sure enough, it popped open and a bundle of blue shot forth and immediately entered the fray.

"NO!" Pleakley cried out.

Stitch somersaulted in front of a blast that was aimed at Soul and caught it. Despite being nearly half his size, instead of blowing him to bits, Stitch was able to hold on to the glowing green orb that had come out of the blaster. This came as a surprise even to Jumba, whose face fell.

Laughing maniacally, Stitch hurled the blast back in Jumba's direction. The larger alien tried to duck out of the way just as it hit the ground and made a medium-sized green explosion. Coughing, Jumba picked himself up again and started firing wildly at Stitch as the blue creature climbed up into the trees and leapt from trunk to trunk, dodging each of the blows. As this was happening large palm leaves came loose and it the ground, nearly hitting one of the others more than once.

Much to Soul's surprise (and probably disgust), Stitch suddenly crawled up her side and licked her face. As it did so, however, she felt some of her energy returning to her, and a couple of the blast burns seemed to clear up all on their own. Stitch hopped down and Soul cast a cure to take care of the remaining injuries.

"Come on!" Jumba exhaled. "What's the big deal? I'll put you back together again. I'll make you taller, and less fluffy!"

"I like fluffy!" Stitch spat. This was, perhaps, the most coherent thing that they'd heard the creature say. He came up to the bottom of a palm tree, effortlessly ripped the entire thing out of the ground, and then swung it like a baseball bat, hitting both Soul, Emily, and Jumba in the process, as well as knocked over even more trees. Pleakley had stood up again at this point but shrieked and slammed himself back onto the floor in time to avoid getting hit.

Panting heavily, Jumba stood up and reached for his gun. He continued to pat around for it for a moment before looking down and confirming that it wasn't in his belt any longer. Jumba's eyes shot back up at Stitch, who was now standing atop the overturned palm tree and wielding the missing blaster.

Jumba started to shake his head and scramble to his feet. "Oh, no no no no…"

The alien took off running as Stitch fired blast after blast just behind him.

"J-Jumba, wait!" Pleakley called after him. "What about-"

"We'll have an opportunity to try again later, but right now we're outnumbered!"

Pleakley let out a whine, got up and started to apologize to the girls and Stitch, but cut himself short when Stitch pointed the blaster in his direction. The pale green alien took the hint and flailed through the forest after his partner.

Emily watched them go with a pleased smile and then gasped. "We have to help Master Blaise!" she told Soul urgently.

"That's right," Soul remember. "Stitch, c'mon!"

"Ye!" Stitch let out and hopped down off the tree trunk. Soul and Emily ran back the way they'd come, and he bounded after them, taking the blaster with him.

When they got there, there was no sign of Blaise, but one of the arms of the heartless thing was missing and the heartless that had been a part of it were now in a large blob on the ground. Soul ran up close enough and cast an aeroga. The gust of wind from her spell knocked the mass of heartless apart just enough for Blaise to break out from underneath it.

"Did you make a dent at all?" Soul asked.

Blaise frowned. "I'll have you know the beast is considerably thinner than when I started this match."

"Well, we're here to help now," Emily said. "All three of us."

"Oh, good," Blaise said, spotting Stitch.

The boss put up less of a fight now that the entire gang was there. They quickly picked up on the strategy of targeting one limb at a time until it broke off, sending the heartless that had been a part of it scattering on the ground. From there they needed to be rapidly picked off, before they could climb back up the heartless structure and help rebuild it.

It took a little while, but sure enough the heartless boss was deteriorating. When there weren't enough to support its humanoid figure, it resorted to becoming simply your typical heartless mob. It was still a rather sizeable mob, considering, but even that was possible to clear out with their joint effort.

All three of the girls were exhausted by the very end of the battle. Stitch didn't seem to even break a sweat and possibly wanted to keep going.

"Good work, buddy," Emily wheezed in the alien's direction.

"Stitch! You're okay!"

They turned to see Lilo running out of the bushes with Nani just behind her. How they managed to entirely miss out on both fights was impressive, truly. Stitch tosses aside the blaster so that it was hidden in the plants and ran up to Lilo on four legs. He pounced at her stomach and knocked her over. The girl was giggling and Stitch began to lick her face.

"Right," Soul muttered.

"You found him," Nani looked to the wielders appreciatively. "Thank you."

"No problem," Blaise smiled back.

And then the wind picked up, and something started to glow white from the trunks of a particularly large palm tree beside them.

"Wh… What's that?" Lilo asked, sitting up. Stitch made a noise in his throat and turned his head towards, floppy blue ears raised.

It was a keyhole, seemingly carved into the tree but somehow glowing as it a light were being shined right through it.

Blaise's eyes lit up. "Guess we did do something right."

"Huh." Soul tilted her head as she looked at it. "Suppose it's true, what Master Yen Sid said about keyholes tending to find you, and not the other way around."

Emily looked between the two of them. "So. Who gets the honors?"

But before they could actually debate this, the tips of all three of the girls' keyblade lit up. They each instinctively lifted theirs, seeing which the keyhole would take. Then the tips knocked together, as if they had been pulled magnetically, and a beam of white light came out from the conjoined keyblade ends that went straight into the keyhole. After a moment the light disappeared and they keyblades dropped to their sides again. The keyhole's imprint remained in the tree's bark, but looked like a simple carving now that the light was gone from it.

"And I think that means it's time to get home," Nani breathed. "It's… been a long day."

Blaise rubbed at the back of her head and smiled at her sheepishly. "Yeah. It… I get that. We should probably be on our way as well."

"Will we run into you again?" Lilo asked hopefully.

"It's possible," Blaise told her. "Now, you be good and listen to your sister, alright?"

Lilo stood up and dusted off her red floral print dress and. "Yeah. Alright."

 **..:: Keyblade Masters' Pavilion ::..**

It was some time ago. Difficult to say just how much time had passed since then, however. Soul had sat at the edge of a fountain in the middle of a tiled courtyard. The fountain part wasn't running. She didn't remember it ever having been, but the base of it was filled with still, clear water, making it more like a pool than a fountain. It was quieter this way, at any rate.

Soul looked almost the same as she did now. Her clothing was similar - heavy boots, baggy pants, all various shades of blue with orange accents. Her blonde hair was a great deal shorter back then. She still kept it tied back in a ponytail, but then it only went to her shoulders.

She was hunched over her keyblade and polishing it carefully someone suddenly was standing just beside her and asked "Is everyone's keyblade different?"

Soul stiffened for only a moment before letting herself relax once more. "You know, I did tell Master Blaise we ought to get you a bell or something to wear around," she mused without looking over at the other person. "Yes, I suppose they're all different. A lot of their function is exactly the same, obviously, but each weapon is slightly geared towards its wielder's skill sets."

The one who had asked was a little girl, perhaps half Soul's age, possibly even less than that. She had long, wavy brown hair and green eyes and a frilly pink dress that was tied in the back with a large bow. She was Emily at a much younger age.

"Is that why they all look different?" she asked Soul next.

Soul looked up at Emily for the first time and smiled slightly. "Sure. Although you know, I have heard that it's possible for a keyblade to take a new form, sometimes multiple ones, based off of places and experiences a wielder was subjected to. I don't know if that's true or not. I've never seen a keyblade that can do that. But I certainly think it's a neat concept."

"Do you want yours to change?" Emily asked interestedly.

Soul looked down at the keyblade in her lap and felt her fingertips down its middle bar. Hers was entirely silver, with a handle like several rings and its tip particularly block-like. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe. I suppose I have grown quite fond of this form. Catalyst, I call it."

Emily came closer and plopped down on the ledge beside Soul, legs dangling because they were too short to reach the ground still. Soul noticed that he wasn't wearing shoes. Blaise had lectured her about this more than once, but Soul didn't care enough to try and correct that behavior. If she wanted to have holes at the bottom of her tights, so be it.

"I like yours," Emily said after a moment. "Does Master Blaise's have a name?" She knew that it faded from a gray sky blue at the very tip to silver to gold at its hilt, which had a blue stone adorning it, but for the life of her couldn't remember Blaise ever referring to the weapon by a title.

"Cacophony."

"Oh." The keyblade apprentice blinked in surprise. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd been expecting, but that wasn't it. "That's… What does that mean, exactly?"

"Hell if I know. Something to do with noise, I think." Soul then glanced sidelong at Emily. "And what about yours? Does it have a name?"

"I, uh… I was thinking maybe Rose Gold," Emily shrugged.

"Do you still remember how to summon it?"

"Of course I remember!"

Determined to prove herself, Emily suddenly leapt down from the ledge again and jumped in front of Soul by a few feet back. She stuck out a hand and proceeded to concentrate unnecessarily hard on making the blade appear. Her face got all scrunched up and her hand twitched, but to Soul's surprise and amusement after a couple moments of this there was a flash of white light and Emily's keyblade appeared. It was a pale gold (not quite pink enough to be rose gold but the name was still fitting enough), with an intricate handle add up of swirling designs and a cut out shape of a keyhole.

However, upon appearing it immediately proved too heavy for the girl to wield and its tip plummeted to the ground, hitting it with a soft clank and nearly throwing off the little girl's balance.

Unable to contain herself, Soul burst into laughter.

"H-Hey! Stop that! It isn't funny!"

"Oh man, you're adorable," Soul wheezed.

Emily's face went pink at this. "I am not! I'm fierce!"

This response only seemed to fuel Soul's hysterics. The Keyblade Master wiped away a tear, saying, "Ooh, that's great. That's really great. You have GOT to tell Basil that."

"Tell me what?" Blaise asked. She had come up beside them now and looked curiously from Emily to Soul. Soul looked to Emily expectantly.

"Master Soul was being mean to me!" the girl huffed and threw down her keyblade. Both Masters called out Emily's name, perhaps trying to calm her, but she was ready stomping away from the scene in a fit.

Blaise frowned at Soul. "Nice going."

"She couldn't lift her own keyblade," Soul explained. "It was FUNNY."

"If you keep making fun of her insecurities she's going to grow up with an attitude problem. And we've already got one Keyblade Master like that."

 **..:: The World That Never Was ::..**

Xeymil's eyes fluttered open. She was staring up at the grayish white ceiling now, but the image of that bright courtyard was still fresh in her mind. She had been dreaming. She was sure of it, no matter what Loxus claimed.

She didn't care so much how as why. There was no mistake, those were the same wielders as before. She'd dreamt about them not too long before actually seeing them in person. Masters Soul and Blaise, they looked almost the same, but the third, little Emily... she'd grown so much in comparison. But why would Xeymil be dreaming about their lives? Had those events really happened, or was she just making it up?

Xeymil thought about asking Loxus again, but she wouldn't know. How could she?

Sitting upright now, Xeymil proceeded to stare forward blankly. Dreams aside, there were new keyblade wielders about, and something was to be done about them. If she didn't act in response to them, then surely one of the others would.

She didn't know what time it was and didn't really see herself getting back to sleep anyway, so instead Xeymil got up, grabbed her Organization XIII robe off of a stand, and slipped it over the also black silky dress and tights that she wore underneath.

Xeymil was still doing up the long zipper when she rounded the hallway corner. She stopped, hearing voices.

"They're like starfish," she heard Basilex say. "Chop off one limb, not only will it grow back, but there'll be two starfish now. I remember when keyblade wielders were a dying breed. Now they're popping up like the weeds that they are. You shouldn't be so surprised."

"They were quite experienced," Loxus replied. "Of the three, only one was a child. I am not surprised that they exist, but that we didn't know about them sooner."

"Xemnas never told us anything. They may of intentionally kept enough of a low profile, but even if he did know, we weren't high enough in the food chain for that kind of information."

"Regardless, this is troubling. You saw how they took down all those heartless."

"There were three of them, plus that creepy blue thing. It was hardly a challenge. Plus, you saw when the one of them tried to take it on by herself. She had it handed to her. Pathetic excuse for a wielder, if you ask me."

Xeymil started to come down the stairs toward them in the castle's main lounge, shoes tapping against the hard floor and echoing enough to catch the others' attention.

"I didn't realize we were having a meeting," Xeymil said bitterly.

"It was invitation only," Basilex sassed her.

Xeymil furrowed her brows. "Don't start with me."

"We were discussing recent events," Loxus told Xeymil.

"They keyblade wielders. Yes. I figured. So what's the verdict?"

Loxus shifted and looked at her seriously. "They are likely not a threat unless we make our presence known to them. If we stick to the shadows, they will continue to fight heartless on our behalf without even realizing it."

Xeymil nodded. "I see. So they think the Organization has been wiped out. We can have a peaceful coexistence because of their ignorant bliss."

"Alternatively," Basilex interjected, "we could wipe them out neutralize the potential threat later."

Loxus narrowed her eyes at this proposal. "Basilex. You know as well as I that those who oppose the wielders don't often live long to tell the tale. Now is perhaps not the time for prejudice."

"That was what I came to talk to you about, actually," Xeymil said. "Not necessarily going to war with the wielders, but... They were the same ones I'd told you about earlier, Loxus. From my... dream, or whatever you want to call it. They were younger in that, but they were the same girls. I'm sure of it."

Basilex laughed mockingly at this news. "You? Dreaming?" she snickered. "Nobodies can't dream. Next thing you'll be saying you think you have a heart."

Xeymil scowled. Just being around Basilex, she could feel her palms beginning to heat up dangerously. "Look, I don't know what it was, okay? But I know what I saw, and that wasn't the only time, either. I don't think that sort of thing could be just a coincidence."

"I wonder if the events of your vision really did happen to them," Loxus pondered aloud.

Basilex rolled her eyes so hard so they might as well have come out. "Oh, come ON. You don't _seriously_ believe this bogus?"

"You think I'm making it up?" fumed Xeymil.

"You're a snob for attention. I wouldn't put it past you."

"Perhaps we ought to find out?" Loxus offered. "Could be worth our time."

Basilex didn't seem amused. "So first you're preaching for us to stay away from the wielders, and now you want us to confront them? What gives?"

"You should both go back to bed," Loxus told the other nobodies. I get the feeling that there is much more work to be done ahead of us."

 **..:: San Fransokyo ::..**

She was never the best at driving the gummi ship. The woman came up to the first new world in her path and almost immediately very nearly dropped right out of the sky into it. The thing came to an unruly halt, skimming across a concrete floor and only just stopping short of sliding right off the edge of a tall skyscraper.

The glass half-dome that sealed off a top portion of the shit popped open. The woman climbed over the top edge of it and then slid down the metal side of the orange and yellow spaceship. A moogle hopped out after her and proceeded to bob around in the air nearby despite its tiny wings barely moving at all.

She went up to the edge of the building and crouched down. She held a hand over her face, shielding it from the sun, and looked down the side of the building at the ground below. There were heartless running rampant around the streets and concrete pavement.

The world she was in now felt like it used to be bustling, perhaps not even all that long ago, but the woman figured that these heartless were the likely cause of its otherwise deserted streets.

"What do you think, Pok?" she asked the moogle beside her. "Good enough place to use as a spellcasting practice ground?"

"There certainly are enough heartless to go around, kupo!" the creature agreed enthusiastically.

The woman straightened. She was clutching a particularly short pink staff in one hand.

"Then let's get started."


	3. The New World

**..:: The New World ::..**

The sky was bright up ahead the trio found themselves surrounded by thick trees on one side. They were standing towards the edge of a rocky cliff, which dropped down several good feet away and overlooked the ocean. Although they couldn't see it at that distance, they could hear waves crashing against rocks below, and birds chirped and, occasionally, screeched from the opposite direction.

"The great outdoors," mused Blaise, looking around.

Soul shrugged. "I don't know if great's the word I'd use. It's peaceful, anyway. But I wouldn't hold out on easy navigation. At least I don't see any obvious pathways."

"Well. _I_ still think it's pretty great."

"You also think 'power naps' are great."

"And I'll stand by 'em!"

The Keyblade Masters met each other's eyes, smiling somewhat. It was them that Blaise noticed Emily beginning to teeter a little closer to the edge than she would've preferred.

"Careful!" Blaise called out after her. "Don't go out too far."

"I'm fine!" Emily shouted back from over her shoulder. The young wielder scanned her eyes across the horizon. The stretch of land sloped down for some great length to her right side, and there was something else sitting in the water all the way down there.

"Hey, I think that's a ship down there," she called out.

Soul tilted her head. "What kind of ship?"

Blaise came up to Emily's side and stopped to peer over the ledge. Sure enough, she could just make out a ship's form below.

"Well, what do you know."

"I said, what kind of ship?" repeated Soul.

"I don't know. Pretty standard issue," Blaise told her, coming back. "The sails are white, so probably not a pirate ship."

Soul nodded. "We might want to be headed in that direction anyway. Let's see if we can find our way through these woods and circle around towards the bottom."

Emily followed after Blaise, walking alongside her until they'd both caught up to Soul and continued onwards towards the forest. "Say, can I see that picture? Of Pink?" the girl asked, looking up at her mentor.

Blaise blinked. "Um. Yeah, I suppose." The wielder stopped to dig around a back pocket. From there Blaise pulled out the photograph Willow had given them of her and Scottie's friend and handed it over to Emily. "I don't think she'll be hard to miss, though. That hair's a bit of a dead giveaway."

Emily took the picture and lifted it into the air, looking up at it. "Do you think she might be here?"

"Doubtful," grunted Soul. "There are a lot of worlds, but… I suppose this is as good a place to start as any."

The wind had picked up just as Soul was finishing her train of thought. There was a particularly strong gust that blew through the trio, taking with it bits of pink, red, and yellow leaves from who knows where. Soul turned her head to avoid getting any debris in her eyes.

"Well, that just happened," Blaise muttered. Her back was already towards the gust but she still lifted an arm to shield her face and try to stop her short strands of hair from poking at her.

"The picture!" Emily gasped. Sure enough, the wind and ripped it right out of her gasp and sent it spiraling forwards along with the colored leaves. Without hesitation Emily sprinted after the thing, arms outstretched and failing to snatch it out of the air.

"Emily! Wait!" Blaise called out after her, already hurrying to catch up.

Soul took a deep breath before darting after the two of them.

The wind died down again quick enough and the picture fluttered to the ground several feet in front of Emily. Unfortunately, just as she bent over to scoop the paper up again, something dark and covered in fur darted out from behind a nearby tree and beat her to the punch. It was a raccoon, fat and complete with a ringed tail and smug look on its cartoony face. The animal picked the picture up in its mouth and scurried further into the woods.

"SERIOUSLY?" Emily wheezed. The wielder inhaled dramatically and prepared to take off after the creature.

"Emily, it's okay, leave it!" tried Blaise. But it was too late. Emily was already stumbling downhill and darting between thick tree trunks at a pace that was probably way unsafe for such an incline, especially with that many obstacles.

Soul looked over at her companion with raised eyebrows. "Are you regretting bringing her along now?"

Blaise frowned. "Shush. This is a good and admittedly much needed learning experience."

"Seems more like babysitting to me."

"I said shush."

"You _are_ keeping an eye on her, right?"

Blaise's head snapped forward and she suddenly realized (and worried) that Emily was no longer in her line of sight. She could still hear the loud crunching and snapping of leaves and twigs beneath her feet up ahead, however, and so Blaise and Soul weren't entirely concerned with losing track of her.

Where they reconvened again the slope had evened out and the trees became less clustered. Up ahead was a waterfall that came down into what was likely part of a wide river. Blaise and Soul got there just in time to see Emily lunge forward and attempt to tackle the raccoon. She failed to see it had already dropped the photo of Pink, and her dive towards the ground sent her and the animal both shoulders first into the water.

Now Soul did actually look worried, and the Keyblade Master ran to her side, where the water went up to about halfway up her calves. She hoisted a half-soaked Emily up out of the river by her upper arms.

"Are you alright?" Soul asked, sounding more stern than concerned.

Emily pulled away further and sloshed her way back to the shore, already wringing out her wet hair and leaving a trail over water behind her as she went. "Yeah, I'm fine," the girl sighed. "Just scraped up my arms a bit on the rocks. And it's cold. AND the raccoon got away!"

"Well, your efforts weren't entirely for naught," Blaise said, hoping to make her feel better. She held up the picture for Emily to see. As she did so, Blaise thought she caught a glimpse of something moving in the foliage surrounding the waterfall. The Keyblade Master lowered her arm and squinted into the distance.

"What is it?" Soul noticed. "Heartless?" As she asked this her hand was already hovering out to her side, prepared to summon her keyblade at a moment's notice.

But whatever it was, Blaise couldn't detect any further signs of its presence. "I don't know," she admitted. "Could be. But they're typically not shy." The woman hesitated another second or so before tucking the photo of Pink away again, but she kept her eyes fixed on the side of the waterfall where she'd thought she'd seen something.

Soul relaxed her arm. "Well. _I_ for one don't like the idea of standing around and possibly being watched. So I vote we continue onward and if there was something there, maybe it'll show itself."

The others agreed that this was as good a plan as any. They'd barely taken two steps in that direction, however, when the thing did reveal itself. Or, rather, its position was given away by another thing that definitely was heartless. A swarm of them came rushing out of the bushes, and a woman scrambled out into the low water ahead of them.

She had considerably darker skin than the wielders and long, flowing black hair. This woman appeared frightened of the other three girls, but evidently not as much as she was the heartless. She ran past, splashing up water until she leapt gracefully onto the opposite shore.

Without hesitation Blaise and Soul went running forward into the water to intercept the creatures and draw them away from the girl so that she could make her escape. There was something different about these heartless than the ones they'd seen earlier: they weren't entirely different from those in Dawn's Peak or Tropical Paradise, but they seemed to be wearing red, purple, and yellow war paint and a few of them had feathers growing out of their heads.

Emily was temporarily distracted wondering about this, and because of this one of the heartless got a jump on her. Emily was knocked to the ground with a grunt, but she immediately thrust the creature off of her with a quick kick and then sprung back to her feet, keyblade at the ready as soon as she had landed.

Knee deep in the river, Blaise and Soul were making quick work of the heartless. Soon there were just a few left. Soul reeled back with her keyblade, preparing to hurl it at a heartless that was starting to make a run for it, when an arrow came whizzing out from somewhere behind Soul and pierced the heartless and sent it underwater.

Soul whirled her head around. She still couldn't tell where the arrow had come from. "Basil," she hissed.

Beat.

" _Basil!_ "

"WHAT?"

Blaise fired a gravira at the heartless trying to rush her from both sides at once and then swung her keyblade around herself in a circle, smacking both of them in the process and sending them flying a foot or so away and into the rocks and water with a splash.

"We've got company," Soul announced.

And that was when they sprung from the bushes surrounding the wielders. Native men, shirtless and armed with spears and bows and arrows. At first the newcomers seemed to be on the keywielders' side, attacking the heartless alongside them. But as soon as the black creatures were driven away the men switched their targets and turned on the girls.

Now the fight was more difficult than when they were just fighting off heartless. There were less of the men, of course, but they still outnumbered the wielders and were each fairly skilled.

"We're going to have to retreat," Blaise realized aloud.

Soul continued fighting keyblade against spear as she called back, "What, are you crazy?"

"I'm being _realistic._ These guys are like the heartless in the sense that they clearly don't want to talk out our differences, but unlike the heartless, they're clearly all skilled warriors!"

"So are we!" Soul scoffed. As if proving a point, she knocked the spear from her opponents' hand. The man was knocked into his rear in the dirt ahead of her. He bent forward, reaching to pick up the weapon again, and Soul kicked his chest back down and brought up her keyblade.

Easy for Soul to say. Blaise was currently fending off four men at once and while she was managing to walk off most of their blows thus far, she wasn't entirely confident regarding how long she could keep this up. Nearby Emily had two men on her - one with arrows and one with a spear - but while she couldn't seem to get a single hit in edgewise, at least she was managing to duck around and avoid the point of their weapons.

Blaise dove between her opponents and came up between Soul and her guy just as the other wielded made to bring down the weight of her keyblade. Blaise grabbed the key with both hands, stopping it in the air.

"Basil! Let go!" Soul hissed, trying to pull it back away from her friend.

"I said we're retreating!"

"I'm not abandoning this fight!"

With another yank Soul freed her keyblade just in time to swing it around and smack another man who tried to jump them.

"You will," Blaise told her firmly, "or I'm taking Emily to safety without you!"

" _Fine!_ "

Soul did a double jump into the air and glided over the heads of two of the men with spears. As soon as her feet touched the ground again she summoned her blue and gold traveling armor and created a glider from her keyblade, which the wielder used to rapidly coast downhill with. Several arrows were shot after her, but most missed their mark and the couple that did hit her merely bounced off the metal suit.

"Emily!" Blaise turned and called out to her apprentice. "Did you catch that?"

"Yeah! Right behind you!" Emily gasped.

As soon as Blaise was sure that Emily was really right behind her, she took off after Soul and copied her keyblade glider stunt. What she hadn't thought to do, however, was make sure that Emily knew how to herself. Which she didn't under the current circumstances. While sprinting the young wielder struggled the get her armor up and running.

The group of natives were much faster than her, but this turned out to not even matter, because before they could even try to stop her Emily had stepped over something and set off a hidden trap. A rope tightened around her ankle and hoisted the girl into the air with a surprised "WHAAA?"

The coastline they were on curved around downhill. Somehow Blaise had gotten ahead of Soul and came whizzing down it, darting between the trees where they were least dense, until it started to flatten out some into a large pine needle covered clearing. The Keyblade Master turned just enough to get her glider to stop suddenly and hopped off as soon as she's done so. As her armor was still unraveling and her keyblade disappearing in a flash of white light, Blaise looked back and scanned the area for signs of her companions.

Soul came into sight moments later. She skidded to a halt, passing Blaise by a couple feet before coming to a complete stop, before climbing off of her keyblade glider. She met Blaise's eyes as her own armor went away but no words were exchanged. Instead the both of them looked back at the mass of trees and waited for Emily. Only they never saw her.

"I thought you said she was right behind you?" Soul finally let out in a tone that was far harsher than even she'd anticipated.

"She was the one who said that," Blaise pointed out.

"And you didn't think to check?!"

"I did! She WAS right there!"

"And you SAW her make her own keyblade glider before taking off ahead of us?"

Blaise fell silent now and looked away. "No." She swallowed guiltily. "I... I just assumed, because we went over it in training, and I'd seen her do the thing before..."

Soul pinched at the bridge of her nose as Blaise spoke. "I told you we shouldn't have rushed out of there!" she yelled, throwing her arms out to the side now. "She's just a kid! The hell were you thinking, Basil!"

"For the last time, my name is BLAISE!" The other wielder hissed and threw her keyblade, which had come back into her hand like it had a will of its own, forcefully into the ground between the both of them.

Soul looked at the keyblade sticking out of the dirt disapprovingly and then up at Blaise again. "If anything happens to her, it's on you," she scowled.

"Emily is both of our responsibility. And nothing is going to happen, because we're going back for her right now."

Blaise pulled her keyblade back out of the ground and kept it in her hand as she started to trudge uphill. Soul made a face but followed after her.

It took them a little longer to go uphill than down (okay, a LOT longer, but pointing out do probably would've only irritated the Keyblade Masters further). And by the time they got back to the waterfall, there wasn't even any sign of Emily or the pack of natives.

"We keep looking for her, then!" Blaise snapped before Soul had even asked the question. "We... We'll find her, okay? Those guys were from this world. They won't have gone far. And I'm sure we'll have an easier time reasoning with them than the heartless!"

"That isn't what you were saying earlier," Soul grumbled in response.

Ignoring her, Blaise paced around in a panicked circle and scrubbed her hands over her face before taking off back downhill. This direction didn't take all that long, even without using their keyblades as gliders, and soon enough they were back in the clearing, still without any clue as to where Emily had disappeared to.

They stepped over an overturned tree and came up to a small ledge over looking an even larger clearing that was filled with little piles of dirt that had been dug up from various spots all over the area and enough tree trunks to suggest that maybe this place hadn't actually been a clearing all that long ago. The cause of the landscape's condition was a group of men very different than those Soul and Blaise had previously encountered. They looked like workers rather than fighters and didn't pause from digging into the ground with their shovels until the Keyblade Masters stepped down into their clearing.

When they did stop and turn their heads the the keywielders, the men seemed almost... frightened? "Savages!" one of them - a fat man in far brighter colors than the rest - called out upon seeing the women. "They finally show their faces! To arms, men!"

Some of them lifted up shotguns Soul and Blaise hadn't at first noticed at this order. The girls stiffened. Others hesitated however, and even those that were holding up weapons didn't look so committed to firing them.

"H-Hang on! Sir!" another, much shorter and much thinner, man at the fat man's side let out frantically. "Are you sure they're savages? They aren't like the ones we fought off earlier. Look at them - they're clothed! And female!"

The first man scoffed. "A clever ploy on the savages' part, no doubt. But I am not fooled. Keep your rifles at the ready, boys! The rest of them are likely hiding in the bushes, ready to ambush us!" He was in elaborate purple getup and an air of importance about him, so it could be assumed that if anyone in this company was giving orders, he was your guy.

"Listen to your friend," Blaise said loudly. "We came across these... savages you speak of. They took our friend."

"See? They can speak, too!"

"Silence, boy!" the fat man grunted. "This land has not yet been colonized. How else would you explain their presence?"

"We're travelers," Blaise tried. "Please. We only just got here. If you are an enemy to the people who took our friend, then let us help you. We don't want any trouble. Just to get her back."

The men exchanged glances and looked to their leader questioningly. Most of those that had lifted their rifles before lowered them slightly.

"They attacked us unprovoked," Soul chimed in, her tone bitter. "We tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them and far too few of us. Our friend fell behind and we can only assume that the brutes have her. I assure you, sir, those savages are no allies of ours."

Blaise eyed Soul disapprovingly at the way she worded this.

"Fine," the man grunted. "Enemy of my enemy, and all that. I'll trust the word of these newcomers - for now. But if I find out you lied to me, that you're with THEM..."

"Those people must have done something truly terrible to you, to justify so much hatred for their kind," Blaise assumed. She disliked the prejudice tone the both of them were taking. True, they had been attacked, and yes, the natives likely had captured Emily, but Blaise wanted to believe that the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. After all, her training had taught her not to meddle in the affairs of other worlds if it could be helped. People don't always make the best choices when they're scared or confused. Blaise assumed that this was related to what had happened.

"Their continued existence is a threat to all our well being. But enough talk of the savages. There will be plenty of that later on. My name is Governor John Ratcliffe of Virginia. Though I assume you already were knew as much."

"I am Blaise, and this is my colleague, Soul," Blaise said in lieu of answering that.

Ratcliffe nodded. "Come. We will talk more in private." He whirled around, decorative cape swooshing in the motion, and bellowed "Keep digging, boys! I don't want to see anyone slowing their pace until every inch of this clearing has been properly inspected!"

-x-

There was really no sense in a foolish attempt to fight off the natives. Emily was cut down and the group brought her deeper into the woods, far enough from the coastline for her to lose track of how to get back to where she'd last seen her companions on the off chance that she did manage to get away.

She was taken to their village, which she found very cute and probably would've loved visiting under different circumstances. Emily was brought directly into a large hut towards the center of the village.

Inside were more of the natives. There was one in particular that stood out, likely because he was wearing a feathered crown over his dark and flowing locks. He also carried a staff in one hand and Emily correctly guessed that he was their leader, but was wrong in assuming this man was also a sorcerer.

He seemed surprised that they had captured "one of them". Emily too was at first surprised, but because for some reason she didn't expect these people to speak the same language as her. The girl also wasn't entirely sure how the chief knew that there were others with her, considering they hadn't been in that world all that long, but again, that seemed like information a good sorcerer was capable of finding out.

"This girl was out by the ledge, with two others that got away," one of the natives that had grabbed Emily explained. "She got stuck in one of our animal traps as she, too, tried to flee."

"This is the first of their kind that we have seen that is female," the chief said. "What was she doing so far from her people?"

"She was armed, just like their men. She and her companions attacked out patrol, but we outnumbered them."

The chief took a deep breath. "They venture further and further into our territory with each passing day. If this continues, we will have no choice but to take a stand against them. For now I will put more men on watch around the camp, lest they try attacking us directly."

"And what about this one?"

"We have seen by now that they have no interest in talking, but if that changes, then perhaps she will be to our advantage."

-x-

It was all Blaise had in herself to keep from snapping at Ratcliffe. Or just snapping him in general. More specifically, snapping his stupid fat neck.

She and Soul sat across from him inside of his docked ship. Blaise strummed her fingers over a wooden table, lips pursed. "So you're telling me," she said after a moment, "that you and your men sailed here and immediately began uprooting trees and ripping out the earth, and yet you're surprised that the Indians, who have been living on this stretch of land that you've just invaded for however many hundred years prior, have become hostile?" There was obvious irritation in Blaise's voice that Soul picked up on, but Ratcliffe seemed quite oblivious to. The Keyblade Master went on, saying, "It's no wonder they attacked us and kidnapped our friend. They thought we were with YOU."

Ratcliffe nodded. As if he hadn't even really heard what she'd said. "And we're doing everything to get your little friend back, I assure you! But as for why the natives attacked us, it's no secret that there are untold riches hidden beneath the surface of this untamed rock."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "What, like… like gemstones?"

"Gold!" Ratcliffe practically spat. Although the it was hard to tell if he sounded more angry or excited as he said this. "It's always been about the gold! They have it, and they don't want us to take it from them. Well, I'll just have to take it by force then, won't I?"

Blaise stared back in utter disbelief. "Are you REALLY so ignorant?"

"Gold, huh?" mused Soul. "No, I don't suppose they would just give that sort of thing up without a fight. I doubt I would."

Blaise shot Soul a sidelong glance. "You aren't seriously buying that garbage? Of course it's not about gold! What makes you so sure they even HAVE any gold? Have you actually seen it?"

"Basil, these men wouldn't come all this way without proof of their cause."

"Be careful where you tread, girl," Ratcliffe warned Blaise with narrowed eyes. "The English Company is a powerful enemy to make, and we don't tolerate traitors to our cause. The Indians are the enemy. Always remember that."

"It's late," Blaise suddenly blurted in an attempt to cut the conversation short. "Master Soul and I probably ought to be getting to bed soon. She want to be well-rested if we're going to go out looking for Emily again in the light of day."

"Of course. I'm sure we have a tent to spare. Wiggins, will you help them get it set up?"

-x-

"I don't trust him. He's everything I despise stuffed into one human being," Blaise hissed. It was much later now. The sun had set outside and they were in a tiny cloth tent that had been pitched in the middle of the Virginia Company's camp. The makeshift room was lit by a single lantern hanging from its pointed top and as Blaise and Soul spoke they kept their voices down to keep from disturbing the rest of the men.

Soul sighed and plopped down onto the ground with her legs crossed. "See, now you're just being bitter."

"Soul! He's vile, hateful, greedy-"

" _And_ he didn't try to have us killed on sight."

"He did, actually," Blaise reminded her. "He told those men to point their weapons at us. Just because they didn't actually go through with it..."

"Look, Basil, I'm not saying you have to LIKE the guy," Soul snapped back suddenly. "All I'm trying to say is that the universe isn't black and white, okay? I'm sure both parties are at fault here. But it isn't our place to pick sides."

"Then why does it look like you're on Ratcliffe's?" Blaise accused with narrowed eyes.

"Oh my... I'm NOT, alright!" Soul leapt up and made to kick at something, anything, but quickly found that there was nothing to kick in frustration and turned her back to Blaise. "I don't care about this whole stupid pioneers versus natives conflict. I just want to grab Emily and get the hell out of this world, but right now... Right now our best chance of doing that seems to be sticking with Governor Ratcliffe." Soul glanced back at Blaise. "Isn't that what you want too? To get her back safe?"

Blaise took longer than usual to respond. Before she could do so, however, the tent flap opened only slightly and Wiggins poked his head through.

"Is... everything alright in here, ladies? I'm afraid your shouting woke Percy from his sleep."

Soul looked to Blaise, who remained silent now. Neither of them were entirely sure who Percy was, but supposed it didn't really matter. "Our apologies," Soul answered for her. "We'll keep it down."

Wiggins bid them goodnight again and left the false privacy of their tent.

"I'm going outside," Blaise announced suddenly.

Soul frowned. "What? Why?"

"Because it's very cramped in here and I need some air and to clear my head, and honestly, right now I can't even stand to look at you!"

In a huff Blaise began to storm out. "Wh... BASIL!" Soul tried to shout after her while still sort of attempting to keep to barely above a whisper. But Blaise was hurrying out of earshot with quite a bit of determination.

Soul took a deep breath threw herself down to the floor probably harder than she ought to have. Normally SHE was the one to blow up like that for silly reasons. It just seemed wrong for Blaise to be doing so. But hopefully she'd get over herself soon, and then Masters Soul and Blaise could get Emily back and finish what they'd come to do.

-x-

That night two figures stood overlooking the tribe's camp amid the darkness. One of them was dressed in her black Organization robe and the other without it and in black and white attire.

"I'm still not entirely sold on this scheme," Xeymil said softly, keeping her eyes fixed on the camp below.

Basilex rolled her eyes. "And I'm not surprised."

"I thought the keywielders were our allies?"

Basilex wrinkled her nose and looked over at Xeymil as if she weren't entirely sure sure those words had really come out of her companion's mouth.

"In the loosest of terms," elaborated Xeymil. "Their sole purpose is defeating heartless. The hearts that they release go towards Kingdom Hearts, funding our goal. We have a system that works. Why make a needless enemy of them?"

"I couldn't give less of a crap about the system," Basilex shrugged. "Wielders just tick me off in general. After what they did the last time they breached our castle, I have no qualms with killing each and every one of them on sight. But Loxus is curious about those dreams or whatever of yours, and she seems to have some 'master plan' in the works, so perhaps it's worth it to see how that plays out."

"And somehow these three wielders that have emerged are involved?"

"Somehow. Luckily, half of our work has already been done for us."

"Hm." Xeymil inhaled slowly and then exhaled. "They have five men on lookout," she said after a moment.

Basilex nodded. "I see them. If I take out the two on the right, do you think you can cause enough of a distraction for me to get in without any trouble?"

"You'd need a rather big distraction," mused Xeymil, already playfully curling a small flame between her fingers.

"Something I'm sure you already have in mind."

Xeymil smiled. "Perhaps. Oh, and Basilex… Do try not to kill this one. I understand you've had issues with that in the past."

Basilex sneered back at Xeymil. Behind her a dark, wispy portal opened up and the girl turned and walked through it.

Seconds later, the nobodies had rematerialized behind a thick tree just outside of the camp. Xeymil waited patiently in the shadows as Basilex crept up behind one of the guards, rapier drawn, and then, once close enough, sliced it through the native's throat in one swift motion.

As she did so the second nearest, standing several feet away, noticed and Basilex hurled the weapon at him. It planted firmly into the man's chest and he fell forward on it. Basilex walked over to the nearly-but-not-quite-dead man then, kicked him onto his back, and yanked out her sword.

Basilex ducked behind another tree and gave Xeymil a quick nod. At this signal, Xeymil stepped out of the darkness now and came up behind the nearest hut. She walked alongside it slowly, brushing one of her Jazz Hands up against the thatched together wall, which was followed by a thin trail of fire that began to spread, slow at first, but quickly picking up speed and covering more area.

Xeymil walked beside a second hut of about the same size and repeated this action. The natives had begun to notice, judging by the panicked shouting that was building up. Xeymil had also been spotted. Several men came at her with spears. Smiling to herself, Xeymil rolled out of the way of the first of them and stuck out a leg to trip a second. She was obviously outnumbered, but skill-wise, the nobody had the advantage.

Xeymil proceeded to hurl a series of fireballs at her attackers. Some hit their mark, others smacked into the structures and broke off pieces of them while engulfing the rest in flames. The immediate vicinity had lit up a bright orange glow now that touched as far as the first layer of trees and nearby river, and long shadows were cast.

One spear was thrust at her and Xeymil stepped to the side of it and grabbed ahold of the weapon with both hands. The spear immediate caught fire all the way down its handle and the man holding it let out a yelp and fell backwards. Once it was freed from his grasp, Xeymil swung the flaming weapon around herself, making the others back away warily. Now that they weren't close enough to bother her so much, Xeymil thrust the flaming spear forward and it pierced a hut that was slightly larger than the first two she'd set ablaze.

Pretty much the entire camp was involved in the commotion at this point. Those that didn't try to fight her were mostly the women, who were busy snatching up their most precious belongings and herding their children away from the immediate danger. Finally satisfied with the chaos she had created, Xeymil ran backwards, away from the center of the camp, and into a dark portal that she had opened up behind herself.

The black and purple portal closed and reopened to the hilltop where she had been standing with Basilex before the attack. Xeymil looked down, surveying the mess she'd made and feeling quite pleased with herself.

Xeymil's distraction served its purpose. Basilex had hovered just outside of the one huts that Xeymil had made an effort not to target until the guards that had been stationed inside of it came running out to join the fray. Once she was sure she'd have no resistance, Basilex invited herself through the animal skin curtain blocking the doorway.

It was dark inside, comparatively, but the orange glow managed to partially pierce through the curtain. At the center of the hut was a wooden pole. At the bottom of that sat a man that didn't look like one of the natives, but Basilex couldn't really care who he was. Behind him and with her back to Basilex was a girl, her arms wrapped around the pole behind her and tied together.

She had obviously noticed that something was going on and was struggling to crane her neck around the pole enough to see what was happening. The man squinted up at Basilex quietly. Basilex walked closer and circled the pole, stopping in front of the girl. This was Emily, although Basilex neither knew her name nor had any desire to learn it.

Emily looked up at her with wide eyes. "You're… not one of them," the girl observed softly.

Basilex hesitated a moment before crouching down and took the girl's jaw in her hand. "God. You look freakishly like someone I know, but… younger. And doe-eyed. It's disgusting."

"Excuse me?!"

"Are you here to rescue us?" the man asked weakly. Now he was the one craning his neck to look behind himself. "Who sent you?"

Ignoring him, Basilex straightened and took out her rapier. Emily stiffened. The nobody went to the side of the pole facing the entrance and knelt down again to cut Emily loose, but not the other man. Once her arms were free, Emily pulled them in and began rubbing at her wrists. Suddenly Basilex was at her side again and hoisted her up forcefully by her upper arm.

"H-Hey!" the girl winced.

"Do you want to get rescued or not?" Basilex hissed.

"Well… Yeah, but-"

"Then come with me and shut up."

The man stared up at them in obvious surprise. "Are you not-"

"Nope."

Basilex hardly waited to make sure that Emily was still with her as she exited the hut. She stopped just outside and realized that Emily was likely not cooperating the the way that she wanted her to. Basilex let out an exasperated sigh and ducked back into the hut and yanked Emily out with her by her forearm, stopping her from freeing her captive companion.

"But what about him!" the girl gasped in surprise. "We can't just leave him!"

Emily was pulled past the animal skin curtain and froze, eyes widening even further. "Their homes… We have to help them! All of them!" she shouted, looking over at Basilex urgently, who had let go again and was clearly expecting her to just follow.

Pursing her lips together tightly and holding back her own urge to take Emily out and/or just leave her there, Basilex backtracked and pulled Emily along by her wrist.

"What are you…? Stop it!"

A portal opened up in just in front of them and Basilex pulled Emily through with her, despite the girl's best efforts to dig her heels into the ground.

-x-

Blaise had taken to pacing about the perimeter of the campsite in an attempt to blow off steam. The wooden wall made up of tree trunks that surrounded the immediate area seemed to be doing an efficient enough job of keeping the heartless out. There were tents scattered about where Ratcliffe's men slept, and a couple of them were standing guard near the wall, but they didn't really seem to mind that she was out so long as she didn't start anything.

After a while Blaise started to grow tired and debated going back inside. Soul was likely passed out by now, so she would at least avoid confronting her again. But then, just as she'd begun to turn back, she heard a man shouting from the other side of the wall.

"Help! Somebody help! Help! Help!"

"Easy lad, what is it?" another man answered this cry. He was one of the two up on the wall keeping watch.

The first man, a boy probably closer to Emily's age, came running into the camp shouting "It's Smith! They got him!"

"Who got him?"

"The savages!"

"Savages?"

"They captured him," the boy explained frantically. "Dragged him off!"

"Where'd they take him?" the first man to have answered pressed.

The boy pointed. "They headed north."

"How many were there?"

"I don't know, at least a dozen!"

Blaise watched with interest from the shadows by the wall. As the company continued to discuss the recent event, she looked over to where he had pointed and spotted something unusual in the distance.

It was a faint orange glow. A pillar of smoke rose up into the sky, nearly invisible amid the darkness, from somewhere in the woods.

Blaise couldn't ignore it. She was trained to respond to possible danger. Not particularly concerned with the man who had recently been captured, The Keyblade Master took off running past the wall and into the woods.

It wasn't long before Blaise made it to the source of the bonfire. It was the Indians' camp, apparently. Some of the structures fortunately were still untouched by the flames or looked as if they had been on fire but since put out. But many others burned on and, in a couple cases, looked beyond saving. On the upside, no one looked hurt from the incident. The natives had divided themselves into two groups: one was huddled together generally looking worried while the other scooped up tightly woven baskets of water and frantically attempted to quell the flames.

Without hesitation Blaise picked up a nearby basket herself and joined them in throwing water over the fire and stomping out the burning pieces of wood that had broken loose. The Indians didn't seem so grateful for her efforts, however. Instead they abandoned their tasks upon seeing her and formed a circle around her, spears in hand.

Blaise swallowed and set down the basket she had cautiously. "I want to help," she explained. "I'm sorry that I wasn't here to have prevented this, but I am now. Let me help you."

One of the natives came towards her from behind the ring, which opened up to allow him through. He had a feathered headdress on, distinguishing him from the others, but even without it it was clear that he was the man in charge of this tribe.

"You invade our land," he said. "You attack my people. You destroy our homes and now... now you pretend to want to help? Why?"

"I... There's been some kind of miscommunication here," answered Blaise. "I had nothing to do with this attack. I simply saw a smokestack in the distance and came to see what was the matter. I promise you that I was not involved in putting it there."

"But you were one of the warrior women my men fought off this morning."

"Only because your men attacked first. I would've much rather talked things out, but under the circumstances, I understand why you did what you did, and that is why I retreated."

"Your kind have proven themselves capable of nothing but destruction," the chief went on, a calmness about him despite the dangerous feeling he gave off. "Why should I believe you to be any different?"

Blaise looked around at the faces of the Indians around her. They looked about ready to rip her a new one, but where patiently awaiting the signal from their leader.

"My... kind..." Blaise echoed. "I'm sorry, but my _kind_?" she said again, louder now. Almost angry. "Are you perhaps referring to those shovel-wielding boneheads that are currently camped out along the shore? Because I assure you, they are the furthest thing from _my kind._ I am Keyblade Master Blaise. I fight against the heartless. I fight for what is RIGHT. And against whatever injustice it is that those men stand for. I assure you, the men who invaded and desecrated your land are as much my enemies as yours."

The Indians were surprised by Blaise's speech. They looked to their chief expectantly.

"You took my friend," Blaise added. "She, too, has no ill will against you or your people. If you don't trust me enough to allow me to help you recover from this wrongdoing, then at least let me have her back and we will happily be on our way."

After another moment the chief spoke for the group, saying, "If this is the truth, then your words are honorable. I will take you to the prisoner, but I make no promises before consulting with the rest of the tribe."

Blaise dipped her head. "Thank you."

The chief ordered his men to continue working on quelling the last of the flames as he lead Blaise across the camp and to a particularly small hut that hadn't been touched by the fire. He pulled back an animal skin curtain and Blaise went in ahead of him, ducking beneath the wood doorframe to get inside.

There were two people in there already. The first was the young woman than Blaise remembered from that afternoon by the waterfall. She has been crouched down but stood as soon as Blaise came in. The second person was a man with blonde hair who was tightly bound to the wooden pole that supported the hut. But there was no Emily to be seen.

The chief came in beside Blaise and looked at the other girl. "Pocahontas," he asked, "what are you doing back in here?"

"There was so much confusion with the fire," the girl, Pocahontas, said. "I was worried that if the flames were here, surely he would burn to death. No one else would come for him."

"This man killed your fiancé. Why would you, of all people, come with concerns for his safety?"

Pocahontas swallowed. "There are some fates I would not wish upon the worst of my enemies. May I go now, father?"

"Where is she?" Blaise interrupted.

The chief looked from the Keyblade Master to his daughter. "Pocahontas, have you seen the other prisoner? The girl?"

"I don't know. She was already gone when I came in."

"Gone?" the man echoed. "But how?"

"That one must have seen something," Blaise pointed out. "Do you mind if I ask him?"

"Of course. Pocahontas, you may leave us."

Pocahontas dipped her head and exited the hut. Blaise then came down onto one knee in front of the Indians' other prisoner.

"My name is Blaise. What is yours?"

The man seemed hesitant and distrusting of her at first. "I am John Smith," he finally told Blaise.

"I understand there was someone else in here with you," Blaise said. "Do you know what happened to her?"

"Someone else came in," John told her. "A woman. She was wearing white and black. She... cut the other girl loose and dragged her out, leaving me behind."

Blaise straightened. The chief turned to her, asking, "This woman. Was she with you?"

Blaise shook her head. "I only had one other person with me, and she was with me right before I came here. She couldn't have gotten here first."

"Then I do not know what to tell you," the chief replied. "I hope that your friend is not in further danger."

"Me too… What do your people plan to do with him?" Blaise asked, nodding toward John Smith, who had lifted his head to them.

"My daughter, Pocahontas, was away from camp. One of my men went to find her when this white man attacked him. At sunrise he will be the first to die."

"Is this the only way?"

"I am afraid so."

Blaise nodded understandingly. Perhaps too understandingly. "I have seen his people and met with their leader. There will be no talk of peace with them. It is a difficult decision to make, but I believe it to be the right one, and until I find out what happened to my friend I will stay and help you fight."

The chief dipped his head. "Thank you, stranger. Your skin is pale, like these invaders, but there is goodness in your heart."

-x-

Nobody slept the rest of that night from either camp. Just as the sun was beginning to rise, staining the sky a blood orange, the Virginia Company marched out with their guns and the Indians with their bow and arrows. Soul was told to stay behind at first, but after much protest on her part she was offered a gun as well, which she of course turned down in favor of her keyblade Catalyst. She determinedly marched beside Ratcliffe at the front of the line.

Likewise, the natives painted Blaise's face and she went with them into battle. From her understanding reinforcements had arrived from a neighboring tribe that evening, which was good news, considering they had been outmatched in their weaponry. They brought John Smith along with them, a rope around his neck, and the chief intended to stay true to his word.

It all happened very suddenly. The natives went up to a sharp ledge. There was a rock there that they pushed John Smith down onto, and one of the men handed a club to the chief. Down below the Virginia Company was just arriving on the scene to witness the event. Then, without warning, Pocahontas pushed through the crowd shouting "NO!" and threw herself down in front of John in time to stop her father from going through with the motion.

The chief raised his weapon once more.

"If you kill him," Pocahontas said, arms wrapped around John protectively, "you'll have to kill me too."

"Daughter, stand back."

"I won't!" Pocahontas protested. "I love him!"

"What?"

Still hunched forward, Pocahontas gazed up at her father. "Look around you. This is where the path of hatred has brought us. This is the path I choose, Father. What will yours be?"

Blaise could see Soul down below, and she had no doubt that she could see her as well. As they stood there, watching this exchange with held breaths, the two Keyblade Masters couldn't even come close to imagining what was going through the other's head.

The chief's eyes shifted from the Virginia Company to the natives and each party raised their weapons slightly. There was a long, tense silence and he closed his eyes and inhaled. A gust of wind picked up, bringing with it a bunch of little colored leaves. Finally his eyes shot open and he held the club up above his head with both arms and addressed all those who could hear him: "My daughter speaks with a wisdom beyond her years. We have all come here with anger in our hearts… but she comes with courage and understanding. From this day forward, if there is to be more killing, it will not start with me."

The chief set his club down beside himself. Pocahontas and John lifted their heads, smiling into one another's eyes. "Release him," the chief instructed his men.

The nearest native came forward and cut free John's hands, and he and Pocahontas stood and immediately clung to one another. Upon seeing this, all those around seemed to relax a great deal and lower their weapons. But Ratcliffe was not amused.

"Now's our chance! Fire!" the man bellowed.

"No!" Soul said, looking over at him.

"What?"

"They let him go," another man said.

"They don't want to fight," a second agreed.

But Governor Ratcliffe remained unconvinced. "It's a trick!" he spat. "Don't you see? Fire!" And then, when no one responded to his orders: "Fine. I'll settle this myself."

Ratcliffe, who had been carrying just a sword, suddenly reached out and ripped a gun from the man standing behind him and shot at the Indian chief. Seeing this just moments before it happened, Blaise made to yank the man aside and out of danger, but John Smith was already jumping in front of him to take the bullet. John was hit and went crashing to the ground.

Soul took up her keyblade and bashed Ratcliffe at the side of his head, knocking him down. "Get the gun!" she barked at his soldiers. They did listen to her, and began to gang up on Ratcliffe and hold the flailing man into place.

"Traitors!" he hissed. "Unhand me, I say! How dare you!"

Soul looked up to see that Blaise was hurrying down the ledge toward her. Whatever was going on between Pocahontas and her father and John Smith having just been shot, they had other things on their mind. "Basil," she said just as her friend got to her. "I'm glad you're alright."

Soul was obviously happy to see Blaise, but the feeling apparently wasn't mutual.

"What were you doing still with Ratcliffe!" she let out angrily.

Soul was a little taken back. "What was I…? Basil, you took off in the middle of the night! Where else was I supposed to go? I had no idea where you were!"

"You were going to FIGHT for him?"

Soul swallowed hard. "Well. I did turn on him, didn't I?"

"And what if things hadn't turned out this way? What if Pocahontas hadn't stopped her father from killing John Smith?"

"Well, Basil" - Soul was making a conscious effort to keep from sounding too sassy - "then the Virginia Company and the natives would've gone to war and it would have put us in an awkward position, which I'm sure you already know. So why can't you just be happy that it didn't come to that?"

Blaise folded her arms unhappily. "You know the rules. We're not supposed to interfere with other worlds."

"Wh… Are you joking? All Keyblade Masters ever do is interfere with the affairs of other worlds; it's practically in the handbook! And you're such a hypocrite! I SAW you up there alongside them!"

"Don't make this about me," Blaise glowered.

"Oh, right. Like how it wasn't your fault that we lost Emily. That YOU said to retreat and then took off without bothering to check that she was keeping up! Where is Emily, anyway? Did you even get her back, or were you incapable of that as well?"

Blaise hesitated before shaking her head. "She was gone by the time I got there. They said that someone else took her. A girl that possibly wasn't from this world."

"Great." Soul pinched at the bridge of her nose. "Not only did we narrowly avoid going to war with one another, but you also possibly lost Emily for good!"

"She's not gone for good," Blaise insisted. "We'll find her. Even if she's in another world, we WILL get her back, and neither of us will stop looking until we do. But perhaps we ought to report back to Master Yen Sid first. Tell him what has happened."

"Yeah, why don't you go and tell him all about how we messed up," Soul said bitterly. "I'm sure he'll love that! What's he gonna do anyway? Yell at us and tell us to keep searching, which is what we were planning on doing in the first place?"

"I don't know! He's been a Keyblade Master a lot longer than either of us have. Surely he'll be able to-"

"HE'S AN OLD COOT, BASIL!" Soul interrupted loudly.

Blaise wanted to shout out a 'how dare you,' but she couldn't bring herself to say the words. Perhaps she didn't even have to. From the look Soul was giving her, she already knew.

"The guy's barely stepped out of his own world for as long as anyone can remember," Soul went on. "So don't waste your time."

"I… I don't think that we should work together," Blaise said after a moment. "At least until we find Emily. And possibly figure out what we're going to say to Master Yen Sid."

Soul took a deep breath. " _Fine._ We'll probably cover more ground separately anyway."

Blaise didn't respond. There was a tense moment of silence and then Soul turned her back to Blaise and started back into the woods. Soul had been known to have her bad days, but she was pissing her off a lot more than usual. But she couldn't worry about that right now. Emily was gone. Finding her had to be Blaise's sole focus.


End file.
